Cricket on the Hearth

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Charles Dickens (duplicate of OL24638A): Cricket on the Hearth (2019, Independently Published)

English language

Published Dec. 5, 2019 by Independently Published.

ISBN:
978-1-6951-3992-3
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3 stars (1 review)

One of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books

John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.

49 editions

Why no panto version?!

3 stars

I learned from The Cricket On The Hearth's Wikipedia page that Dickens apparently began writing the novella in the middle of October 1845 and had it finished on the 1st of December. Is this the original NaNoWriMo? Unfortunately I would say that rush job does show in the published story, but because it is Christmas and because it is Dickens I still enjoyed reading this overly schmaltzy tale! As I mentioned in my Starlight At Moonglow review, there's something I can't quite put my finger on about my traditional Christmas reading that gives it an enhanced emotional pull and, despite the events of The Cricket On The Hearth actually taking place at the end of January, the story falls into that grand tradition.

There's plenty of typical Dickens-isms in this fairytale although it isn't as strong on social commentary as many of his other works. Young women are preternaturally kind …