I listened to Faith Moore’s podcast series on A Christmas Carol this year and loved it. She does a great job of narrating the book as well as interjecting short “notes” to clarify what’s going on and bring out important pieces. So, reading her spinoff novel seemed like the perfect companion to the podcast.

This book reimagines Scrooge as a middle-aged workaholic woman named Karol. Unlike Scrooge, she has a family, but she has disconnected from them and isn’t interested in spending time with them. Christmas isn’t a happy time for Karol, as it causes her to remember her mother’s death and her estrangement from her sister. But she does find solace in her career as a lawyer, which is going very well.

Karol believes that her husband and kids don’t need her—they only need her to work to provide money to sustain their lifestyle. She likes the way she feels when she’s at work: in control, successful, powerful. She doesn’t like the way she feels at home: trapped, out of the loop, redundant. This leads her to where she is at the start of the book: A success at work, and a failure at home. But she doesn’t see her homemaking failures as a big deal. She’s a high-powered NYC lawyer…and that’s the very definition of success, isn’t it?

Karol calls her employees to work on Christmas Eve to handle an issue regarding a Very Important Client, but on her way to a meeting, she slips and hits her head in Rockefeller Center and ends up in the hospital—but it’s not your typical hospital. There, she has three separate encounters with the past, present, and future. These cause her to rethink her notions of success and confront the deep unhappiness that she’s been trying so hard to mask with money and makeup.

I really enjoyed this book because I’ve chosen to devote my talents and energies to professional homemaking. I’ve largely phased out of any type of money-making work. I stay at home with my kids and homeschool them. My days are dominated by parenting challenges and household chores. I have chocolate-chip banana bread in the oven as I type this book review. I’m one of those. Naturally, I enjoy reading books that reinforce my life choices.

But, I also believe that what Faith Moore is saying about finding joy is true. Investing in my husband and my kids is something I won’t regret. I may not make any money, but I save a heck of a lot of it. I know my kids inside and out, better than they know themselves. My husband and I agree that we have the best marriage of anyone we know. These are not small matters. They are what a fulfilled life is built on.

Are there days when I wish I could put my kids on the school bus and let someone else deal with them? Sure! Are there days when I die a little bit inside, knowing that I will perform grunt work from morning til night? Of course! Are there times when I look with envy at beautifully dressed women who have important jobs to run off to? Yes. But I wouldn’t trade what I have.

Let me be clear: This book isn’t saying that all women should be homemakers. It is saying that all women should prioritize the human connections in their lives over material gains. Making husbands and kids a priority (instead of an afterthought) will lead to a correct ordering of affection, which leads to joy and fulfillment. No amount of money or success can fill the void when husband and kids have grown cold and indifferent.

Some may find this message grates on them or feels too political, and it’s hard for me to offer an unbiased opinion because I agree with what this book is saying. But, if you value the home and the woman’s role in it, then I think you’ll find a lot to like in this retelling.