Monday, December 27, 2021

The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

Appropriately, I finished this third Christmas novella of Dickens on Christmas Eve, and it's my favorite Christmas novella of his to date.

It's a wonderful, compact story of a small group (by Dickens' standards) of families living and working in a small community.  Their lives are not perfect, but as with all Dickens, their good nature has yielded a joyous existence for all.

Through an unexpected twist near the end, the one wicked character in the story suffers a setback that rewards the fortitude of others.

And in the end we leave the scene with a picture of genuine love and harmony in an imperfect world.

I suppose my only question regarding Cricket is its designation as a Christmas Novella, given that the story takes place well after Christmas, most likely in January or February.  The plot does not involve Christmas, although a few of the characters make toys as a living.

I suppose the designation comes from its release just prior to Christmas in a single volume, unlike most of Dickens' works which were published in serial format over the course of several months.

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