Belle Endicott’s farewell to her fiancé, Ebenezer Scrooge, has echoed through time:

“I release you. With a full heart, for the love of him you once were. May you be happy in the life you have chosen!”

Here is the untold story of how the doomed lovers found and then lost each other. And how their parting stayed with Scrooge daily and ultimately prepared the way for his famous redemption.

Belle Endicott and Ebenezer Scrooge are young, bookish, hardworking Londoners drawn together by button-making. His brand-new factory threatens her family’s tiny shop, yet they fall in love and start planning their future. When personal and business calamities strike, they confront them vigorously side by side, but ultimately something has to give. We know what it is. They do not.

Published 10/21/2020