When Night Comes - A Christmas Carol Revisited by Kit West
When Night Comes (A Christmas Carol Revisited) is a near-future version of the Dickens classic. In it the protagonist Esmeralda is a much more sympathetic rendition of Ebenezer Scrooge, being an elderly bookstore owner in a time when a virtual reality type of “book” has taken over. Her last remaining “customers” are street children seeking refuge in the bookstore and the (real) book. But this is not enough, so on Christmas Eve Esmeralda finally gives up and decides to end her life, and it is up to the spirits of past, present and future to stop her, to show her the true meaning of Christmas, and life, but will they be able to succeed? Esmeralda is terribly wounded and terribly stubborn, a bad combination. Only love might be able to combat her self-destruction, but this has failed in the past, so why should it succeed now, when things are so much worse? Her favorite street children, along with the spirits and Esmeralda’s long lost love come together in their efforts to save her. They know it is a long shot, but they try anyway because they too believe in love. Is love enough? Is it ever enough?