Dickens at Christmas

by Charles Dickens

A selection of the best of Dickens' Christmas stories and writings, in one beautiful edition. It is said that Charles Dickens invented Christmas, and within these pages you'll certainly find all the elements of a quintessential traditional Christmas brought to vivid snowy rooftops, gleaming shop windows, steaming bowls of punch, plum puddings like speckled cannon balls, sage and onion stuffing, miracles, magic, charity and goodwill. This beautifully produced Vintage Classics edition gathers together not only Dickens' Christmas Books ('A Christmas Carol', 'The Chimes', 'The Battle of Life', 'The Cricket on the Hearth' and 'The Haunted Man') but also stories that Dickens wrote for the special seasonal editions of his periodicals All the Year Round and Household Words , and a festive tale from The Pickwick Papers . A must-have for Christmas, this edition should be as necessary to your festivities as holly, mistletoe and silver bells.

Genres: Christmas, Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Victorian, Holiday

592 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kyriakos Sorokkou]

Since Christmas 2015 I decided on reading A Christmas Carol every December in a different edition every time.

This of course has some drawbacks:

1) Christmas Holidays in Cyprus are not suitable for reading but for eating and family gatherings and games. In other words, socialising the shit out of you.

2) Not all Dickens Christmas Books are about Christmas like A Christmas Carol (ACC)

3) Not all Dickens Christmas Books are as good as A Christmas Carol.

4) Every time I read something slow-going by Dickens I end up in a mini reading slump.

But this was a wonderful edition that deserves 5 stars as a collective object and 4 stars for the stories it includes, with the exception of ACC that deserves 5/5.

This beautiful hardback edition by Vintage includes all five novellas Dickens wrote during Christmas in 1840's but only two of them take place during Christmas (ACC and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain)

It also includes 8 short stories about Christmas or stories that were published in journals/magazines edited by Dickens during the Christmas period. (1850's-1860's)

It also has The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton which is actually a chapter from Dickens' first novel The Pickwick Papers.

So, with no further ado let's see which stories I liked, and I definitely recommend from this book and which stories I didn't like.

I loved:
A Christmas Carol 5/5

I liked:
The Story of The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton
The Cricket on the Hearth and
The Seven Poor Travelers 4/5

I enjoyed:
A Christmas Tree
A Christmas Dinner
What Christmas is, As We Grow Older
The Poor Relation's Story
The Child's Story
The Schoolboy's Story
and Nobody's Story 3/5

I didn't enjoy:
The Chimes
The Battle of Life
and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain 2/5

44/14= 3.14 but as I said I'll give 1.5 stars as well, because this edition was so beautiful with a very good quality paper, a beautiful cover and of course cozy illustrations for every part.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marking this as read since I read all Dickens’ Christmas novellas in this. I may read the other excerpts in here as I have time this Christmas or save them for other years. We’ll see. Here’s my ranking for the novellas:

1. A Christmas Carol
2. The Cricket on the Hearth
3. The Battle of Life
4. The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain
5. The Chimes (this one was odd, Katie from Books and Things helped me understand it much better)

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book but because I've watched Muppets Christmas carol one too many times, I just see Muppets all through this book.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is said,’ states the blurb of this book, ‘that Charles Dickens invented Christmas, and within these pages you’ll certainly find all the elements of a traditional Christmas brought to vivid life: snowy rooftops, gleaming shop windows, steaming bowls of punch, plum puddings like speckled cannon balls, sage and onion stuffing, magic, charity and goodwill’. Sounds marvellous, doesn’t it? Thankfully, ‘marvellous’ is an adjective which can be applied in good measure to this lovely book.

Dickens at Christmas contains many extracts from his seasonal writings, some of which are short novellas (‘A Christmas Carol’, which takes pride of place as the second story in the collection, and ‘The Cricket on the Hearth’, for example), and others which number just a few pages. All of Dickens’ Christmas books are included, along with a standalone story from The Pickwick Papers and those from various short story collections.

Dickens’ wit and love of Christmas shine through on each and every page. All of the many elements of this time of year have been presented by the master himself, and encompass both the rich and the poor, the merry and the miserly, the ghostly and the real. The religious aspects are mentioned in some detail, along with the importance of the family dynamic over the Christmas period. Each scene is wonderfully written and beautifully evoked. Only Dickens could write so meticulously and creatively about a rainy day: ‘the cold, damp, clammy wet, that wrapped him up like a moist great-coat… when the rain came slowly, thickly, obstinately down; when the street’s throat, like his own, was choked with mist; when smoking umbrellas passed and repassed, spinning round and round like so many teetotums…’

I cannot write a review of Dickens at Christmas without mentioning how beautiful this edition is. The cover sparkles, and Emily Sutton’s illustrations, both on the cover and before each story, have been wonderfully drawn. It is truly an object of beauty, and is sure to delight many people this Christmas – a perfect gift to show you care, or simply one with which to adorn your own bookshelves.

Dickens at Christmas is wonderful for already established fans of Dickens’ work, but it also provides a lovely introduction to his stories and style of writing. The volume can be easily dipped in and out of, and the stories themselves are so rich in detail that they can be read again and again. Their sheer timelessness makes them suitable Christmas fare for many years to come.

[Cathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Total 3.5 ⭐️
A Christmas Carol 5⭐️
The Chimes 4⭐️
Cricket on the Hearth 3⭐️
Battle of Life 2⭐️
The Haunted Man 2⭐️

Physically a beautiful book. It’s laid out well and despite the page count it’s rather light in weight. I will revisit the later novellas in the distant future.

[Vikas Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book to begin the year with and to begin the 2019 reading challenge. It can be said with certainty that Charles Dickens has been to a great extent responsible for giving Christmas the present shape with all its associations with charity, festivities and the gastronomic adventures. This collection includes some of the Christmas themed works from his publication The Household words. Also included are his some no so interesting and downright boring Christmas stories. I particularly enjoyed reading The Story of the Goblins who stole a Sexton from The Pickwick papers.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful Christmassy read! In some stories I didn't quite get what they had to do with Christmas, but I really enjoyed all of this. Especially the little essay-like thingies at the end that just contained thoughts about Christmas-related things.

[Girl with her Head in a Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my full review: https://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/...

I was given this rather beautiful book several years ago and while I've dabbled in it before, Blogmas was the first time that I gave it any sustained attention. It's often said that Dickens invented Christmas so it's seems strange that it took so long for all of his Christmas writing to be drawn together in one place. Yet when one digs in deeper, it becomes less surprising. This is a beautiful book to behold with a stunning cover design and pretty illustrations at the start of each story. But what lies within is not the expected light festive fare.

The book starts off with a short story 'The Goblins Who Stole A Sexton' which first originated in Dickens' The Pickwick Papers and more or less prefigures the basic plot of A Christmas Carol. Then we have Dickens' five 'Christmas Books', namely ACC itself then The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man or the Ghost's Bargain. It then finishes off with various pieces of Dickens' short writing on the subject of Christmas. Aside from the scattering of nice images, the book feels hastily put together. Even adding a paragraph of background to accompany each story would have given some welcome context. As it is, it seems more like a clever marketing idea from someone at Vintage to take a stack of Dickens' lesser-known writing (out of copyright), add in Christmas Carol for recognisability and then package it up with a ribbon on top as a festive gimmick.

Reading this over Christmas 2020 was a peculiar experience. First of all, it became immediately obvious why A Christmas Carol is the only one of Dickens' five Christmas books that anyone reads any more. It has a compelling 'villain' who goes through a powerful redemption arc and the central dilemma - remember to be nice to people - is one that we can all basically relate to. There are the catchphrases and the colourful supporting cast. It just works. The other books were ... less gripping.

The Chimes puts another character through a kind of 'What-if' spiritual experience but the protagonist in question is having a crisis because he is poor, his daughter is poor and so is the man she wishes to marry. A rich man tells them that their prospects will be destroyed if they wed, leading to a kind of It's A Wonderful Life sequence where the father sees how awful their lives will be if the young couple do not at least gain that small happiness in their youth. But it's strange because the father isn't a wicked man and doesn't need to be 'redeemed'. It would just be nice if they all had a bit more money. The Cricket on the Hearth is nice enough but is another example of Dickens being weird about women while The Battle of Life is flat-out bizarre. And The Haunted Man was a serious insomnia cure. This is not 'Dickens-lite'. This is full-on Mr Charles Dickens pontificating about morality and the injustices heaped upon the poor and the destitute.

All this did prompt a lot of thoughts though, particularly after ten years of living under Conservative austerity policies. Scrooge in A Christmas Carol comments that if the poor are going to die then they had better do it and thus decrease the surplus population. This has serious echoes of Dominic Cummings rumoured remarks that the country should pursue herd immunity policies around COVID-19 and 'if some pensioners die, too bad'. Or when Jacob Rees-Mogg said that those who died in Grenfell tower 'lacked common sense' because they followed the agreed fire policies. Or when Rees-Mogg said that the increased use of food banks was 'rather uplifting'. Or when Matt Hancock expressed disapproval for people who go to work when they have illness symptoms - really Mr Hancock, you've no idea why they might feel that they need to do this? The Tory government have certainly embraced a Dickensian aesthetic in their approach to societal infrastructure. But none of these musings are particularly festive.

Maybe that's because Dickens was using Christmas as a fig-leaf to cover his moral indignation at the plight of the down-trodden. He had experienced poverty as a youngster and the trauma was behind much of his many issues. I respect that he tried to give a voice to the poor. But I still wish he wasn't so utterly useless at writing women.

I was speed-reading to get to the end when I reached the pieces of short writing. From that point, things picked up. The chapters 'A Christmas Tree', 'A Christmas Dinner' and 'What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older' are all beautiful. Dickens was always good at writing scenes of food and conviviality. Reaching this point, we finally have the festive frolics that this book seemed to promise. It's just that it had taken 477 pages to get there.

There are lots of lovely things about Dickens at Christmas - it's a pretty book, it's a piece of literary history and Dickens is a fantastic writer. It's probably best enjoyed as something to dip in and out of so trying to tackle the whole thing at once was shooting high. It's just that I was interested enough to do some independent Search Engining to find out more about the background of the Christmas books and extra context did help me understand what was going on. This book is not a light read, not something that I would gift to anyone other than a literature enthusiast. So it seems seriously strange to serve everything up with not so much as an introduction.

Dickens at Christmas will be returned to my bookshelf to sit in state with my other 'posh books' - namely the posh copies of Jane Austen books that I inherited from my Grandma and my mother's old friend's vintage copy of Wuthering Heights. I got to feel pleasantly smug when I was listening to Radio 4's Books and Authors: The Joy of Dickens and an academic said in exasperation that nobody ever read Dickens' other Christmas stories - I know all about them now. I will dig this out again next year now I know which bits are easier-going - Dickens is one of the great kings of Christmas and it was good to find out how he built his throne.

[Stasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost, "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it."

No matter how many times or how many different editions of "A Christmas Carol" I read and read again, it never fails to chill and thrill me, to make me think.... Sigh. What a writer was Dickens!!!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

some stories i liked, some not so much, but what's up with the obsession with goblins?

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather eclectic collection of Christmas stories, although I made the mistake of reading it in the order in the book - I would have done better to mix and match the short stories in and around the longer novellas, as the quality of the novellas is a bit variable and by the end of the last one, I really wanted to move on to something else.

The Goblins that Stole a Sexton (from the Pickwick Papers) is very much a fairy tale.
The Chimes shows Dickens at his sarcastic best when talking about the village higher ups.
The Cricket on the Hearth starts with a genuinely funny description of, of all things, a kettle. Goes through a story of misunderstanding and finally seems to have a happy ending, until you get to the last paragraph, which I'm not sure why was there, as it turned it all downbeat.
The Battle Of Life isn't as obviously a Christmas story. Still, the description of the Battle Ground - where a long ago battle took place, and has now grown over and been forgotten - immediately made me think of Waterloo, although it's more obvious later that it's in England, not Belgium. Dickens also has his usual attitude towards lawyers in this one!
I'll admit that I just didn't follow what was going on in The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, although as with most of the Christmas stories, everything turned out alright in the end.
The excerpts from Household Words are some of those pieces that gave Dickens the reputation as having invented the modern Christmas (and brought a new take to the ghost story genre). One of these is a novella called The Seven Poor Travellers, which comes in three parts - the second of which is a story about soldier Richard Doubledick, which made me wonder if Bernard Cornwell picked up on it as an inspiration for Richard Sharpe.
The last section includes some short stories from "A round of stories by the Christmas Fire"

And of course, not to be forgotten, pride of place is A Christmas Carol, one of the most famous Christmas stories ever written.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The brilliance of Dickens descriptive writing is evident in all of these stories, but I was surprised to find that A Christmas Carol is the earliest of them all, as, for me, it is by far the best of his Christmas stories. If this review was for that alone it would definitely be five stars! I enjoyed the other stories in varying degrees, but none of them have the memorable characters, horror, humour and hope that makes a A Christmas Carol such a masterpiece. Just how did Dickens come up with paragraphs such as this?

“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.”

I just love it.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars total

5 stars for A Christmas Carol, 4 stars for the rest. Nothing else quite compares to A Christmas Carol in bringing out the holiday spirit and focusing the mind on what the Christmas season should be all about. There are some other engaging tales here - The Chimes, The Battle of Life are both really good. But they don't feel like instant classics the way A Christmas Carol does.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Dickens & Christmas ~ an excellent combination! FOr noone captures the mystery, joy & celebration of the Yuletide season quite like Mr Dickens in a variety of stories including "A Christmas Carol", "Pickwick Papers", & "Cricket on the Hearth".

[Ocean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have yet to finish this collection but I'm keeping the rest of the stories for next christmas now. I did not enjoy "The chimes" very much, besides that I've loved most everything so far but I do love me some Dickens on a cold winter evening!

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful selection from the man who invented modern Christmas...

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only read A Christmas Carol but it was superb!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dickens at Christmas is a collection of the celebrated author's festive fiction, and reflections on the assorted staples of a Victorian Christmas. I have read two of these once before, and another too many time to count (yes, that one!), and you will thus find accounts of quite varying lengths below.

The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton

In this short seasonal story from The Pickwick Papers, can be found the seed of Charles Dickens’ later masterpiece, A Christmas Carol – the idea being not yet fully realized, but the themes of redemption by supernatural intervention, and of a wicked man saved from himself at Christmas time, being very much present! With this in mind it is a brief but interesting read.

A Christmas Carol

I invariably find reviewing a long-time favourite intimidating. No length of essay could ever do justice to my feelings, and I could never be fully satisfied with my reflection, because there is such depth to the connection I feel with the story! Add to that the classic of English Literature dimension and the task becomes more daunting still. I was born a year too early to study A Christmas Carol for GCSE (as my younger sister did, for example), and thus will never know if such would have spoilt my reverence, but since I was already in love with the tale before High School I rather suspect I would have derived much enjoyment, and been utterly insufferable throughout! As it is, I have not the nuanced literary lens to examine every facet of its meaning in an evolving society (something to strive for, one day!) but I can attempt to articulate why it is I resonate so strongly with this sentimental little novella from 1843.

And sentimental it is! Far from the weakness critics give this as, I see it as a strength. However bleak the world may be (and I write this at the close of 2020, so you may suppose I have noted a lot of bleakness by this point), it is not always so, and bleak stories are certainly not the only ones worth reading. A Christmas Carol is the epitome of the "comfort read", warming the reader through with its nigh-impossibly-happy ending, yet it is far from frivolous, with a deathly-serious message about the plight of the poor and the dangers of tolerating ignorance and want in society. The anger of the Ghost of Christmas Present is a true reflection of Charles Dickens' own fury, and it follows that the “perfect” ending he wrote represents his ideal of a better future.

Indeed, writing A Christmas Carol was a humanitarian pursuit, and its largely-secular nature removes any ecclesiastical conditions placed on its readership, allowing that anyone may choose to be charitable, merciful, and benevolent; anyone may possess the milk of human kindness, and be blessed by the infectious spirit of the festive season. As a non-Christian, this is a large part of the meaning of Christmas to me.

I delight in the familial tone of the author–

“The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.”

–and the way he labours his point by playing indulgently with his words – how many times was I told that old Marley was dead? Or that the curtains of Scrooge’s bed were drawn aside? Why, the perfect number, naturally! Dickens was often paid by the word I grant you, but his Christmas books were not published as serials; his lengthy descriptions are not gratuitous – they are revels, with a transportative quality, and they evoke an atmosphere quite fantastic. In short, the language in this short book is sublime, and is best appreciated out loud. If you can get hold of the recording of Neil Gaiman performing from Dickens’ prompt copy of the book, I would heartily recommend it!

I align myself wholeheartedly with the values Dickens expounds, and I am ever caught up in the irresistible joy he describes. This book began my love affairs with redemption arcs, with examinations of the celebration of festivals (see also: Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather!), with ghosts who are spooky but not evil, with socialism. A Christmas Carol may not be for everybody (though I hope there are equivalent raw joys open to anyone too cynical for it!) but it is most assuredly for me!

Favourite Quotes:

“'But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'”

“He lived in chambers that had once belonged to his deceased partner. They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again.”

“'If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,' returned the Ghost, 'will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.'
Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.
'Man,' said the Ghost, 'if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!'”

“'This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.'”

“'There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'”

The Chimes

Where A Christmas Carol takes place at the culmination of Advent, The Chimes is set just before the New Year is rung in. As such, it deals with themes of endings and beginnings, and the passage of time, alongside an examination of perceptions of vagrancy and destitution. As with Charles Dickens’ previous Christmas book, this novella is heavy on the social commentary; through the suffering, erring, and enlightenment of his characters he condemns the classist attitudes of the time, and shows his support for the values of mercy and charity – in particular holding them up as equal to justice. Given the author’s past personal experience of “justice” (that of his parents’ incarceration in a debtors’ prison), this seems an especially marked and pertinent message to send; even moreso in a festive novella that was to follow one which so instilled in its readers universal feelings of goodwill.

The supernatural guides of The Chimes are the spirits of the bells themselves, and assorted goblins. Indeed, the full title of the book is The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. I find their intervention less powerful than that of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol, because they entreat a poor, kindly - albeit weak-willed - man to change, rather than the more obvious villains of the story (a condescending MP, who dispenses charity but thinks himself above those whom he bestows it upon, and a hateful political economist, whose vocal desire is to “put down” every petty criminal without a thought of addressing the circumstances which drove them to it). And yet Dickens empowers the poor in this way. There is a balance to strike between assigning them agency, and the rich responsibility. The protagonist, Toby Veck, has become discouraged, and begins to believe these folk his “betters” and espouse their declaration that the poor are inherently wicked – as if original sin were not only true, but reserved for his impoverished caste. With Toby’s glimpse of the future he can expect if he persists in these delusions, a self-fulfilling prophesy is apparent, and I am reminded of It’s a Wonderful Life – the vision comes at a crisis point in the protagonist’s life. One of the wrongs highlighted by the Goblin host is that of harking back to a supposed Golden Age (a reference to the “Young England” movement), rather than focusing on improving the lot of the common man in the here and now, which sadly feels especially resonant today.

There is less simple joy and familiarity in this tale than in A Christmas Carol – often the callous attitudes found within grate to read, and there is an ambiguity to the ending as to the nature of Trotty’s return to the waking world – did he really wake, or is this joyful circumstance yet a figment of his imagination? which hangs like a dark cloud over the reader, reminding them that the harsh reality of poverty and oppression often lacks a happy ending. But the message is a noble and compassionate one, which strikes home the harder for not being sugar-coated.

The Cricket on the Hearth

The Cricket on the Hearth is a pleasant window onto domestic life and a homage to the Hearth as its heart. The titular cricket represents all those Household Gods Who facilitate familial happiness, celebrating simple homely events, and calming rash angers that they not lead to impulsive actions – on one crucial occasion for example, ensuring that a husband’s misunderstanding does not lead to a fatal error in judgement. There is a hint at some behind-the-scenes fairy work at play, leading to the redemption of the story’s most unsavoury character, reminiscent of the plot of A Christmas Carol, but the focus here is on the milder characters, who welcome and cherish their cricket as a guardian of their humble and happy lives.

The story is at times a little slow, and somewhat mundane, but is undeniably wholesome, and the atmosphere Dickens conjures, though not as festive as in his previous Christmas books, is thoroughly hygge, juxtaposing the warmth of the communal hearth against the bare and bitter cold of the winter season. I find the secular nature of the narrative refreshing, by which the author highlights a person’s actions rather than their faith, and allows that morality can be apart from religion. The tribe of John Peerybingle, even with its brief hiccough (around which the plot hinges), is more of an ideal than a true reflection of a Victorian family; thematically I was reminded more of J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbits than of any lived reality, but I was thusly warmed! The full title names the story a “Fairy Tale of Home”, so we must assume Dickens fully intended this.

Pure fantasy? Yes. Comforting? Also yes.

The Battle of Life

I couldn’t fully get on with this novella. Despite being another of Dickens’ “Christmas books” The Battle of Life has no supernatural elements, and has an overblown plot with little focus on that festive time, and little to connect the titular battle with any of the events which much later take place. Various times of the year are visited in the telling of the story, and therein lay the only value I found – namely, the author’s descriptions of the same rural environment as it changes with the seasons, which are deeply immersive and comfortingly-familiar to any champion of the English countryside.

The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain is a strange but compelling little tale of a man haunted by his own grief. Dickens’ flair for character is evident here – he paints some very genuine family portraits and evokes empathy for his poorer characters in much the same way as with the Cratchit family and poor Tiny Tim. The crux of the story seems to be the importance of memories – happy or unhappy – as touchstones of one’s identity, and that peace can never be found nor kindness and humility felt, by repressing them:

"Lord keep my memory green”

I enjoyed reading this story more than I did the previous two (perhaps I just missed the ghosts?), though its theme and message are less clear.

~~~

The remaining short stories and essays (taken from Household Words, A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire, and Another Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire) are largely reflections on the traditions and atmosphere of Christmastime, and of the passage of the natural world through its darkest season. It is gratifying in reading them to observe how some elements of the whole ritual of Christmas feel practically unchanged to this day, and to catch a glimpse of the author’s mental picture of the festival: the familiar food, toys, games, and mirth; his preoccupation with spooky stories and fairy tales and other such wintery pursuits; and again and again the importance of the hearth, with its warmth and light, which must have been such a gladsome locus throughout the midwinter celebrations. On finishing this wonderful, nostalgic collection, I feel I better understand these associations, and can treasure those I find in common with my own excited annual notions of seasonal cheer. A Christmas feast for the imagination!

[lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't lie. I'm pretty disappointed with this collection. I initially bought it to help get me in the festive mood (which, really isn't that hard), but this collection of short stories and books really didn't do that. I found only the very short stories, mainly the two from A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire and the one from the Pickwick Papers, were actually Christmassy. All the others, including the Christmas Books (except A Christmas Carol), were set around Christmas time but not actually anything to do with the holiday. I am majorly disappointed.

I'll link my individual reviews of the Christmas Books here, if you'd like to real a full discussion on them:
- A Christmas Carol: no review, but rated 5 stars.
- The Haunted Man
- The Battle of Life
- The Cricket on the Hearth
- The Chimes
- The Seven Poor Travellers

As you can see, I didn't enjoy the actual novellas all that much. Surprisingly, it was the short stories that gripped my attention and made me feel the slightest bit festive. I normally hate short stories, but I've found Dickens is quite good at writing them. I always tend to enjoy them more than his actual novels, so perhaps that is why these periodical entries suited my tastes more than the novellas.

I would recommend this to those of you who enjoy Dickens work - his writing is really beautiful in some of these stories. However, I won't recommend it to those of you who are looking for a festive read. Instead, just simply buy A Christmas Carol and read that instead. I definitely don't think this is worth the price!

[Michael Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of Christmas stories. Some more obscure than others, but all enjoyable in their own way. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a Dickens story. A Christmas Carol is a must for me, every year. Even if I don't get chance to read it, I'll make sure I watch at least one of the film adaptations.

[Jeff Howells · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Charles Dickens’ Christmas story (full disclosure I’ve already read his Christmas Books so haven’t reread them this time around). There’s nothing of the quality of A Christmas Carol and it’s clear that a lot of themes from that story reoccur. The best story here is The Story of the Goblins who stole a Sexton - from The Pickwick papers the rest are nothing more than OK.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read A Christmas Carol - funny and ultimately heartwarming as we all know. I read it with the idea it could be read aloud in school, but I'm not sure it would be very accessible for children. Perhaps a child-friendly version would be nice in the lead up to Christmas though.

[Jan Duthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dickens, Christmas just add your favourite tipple and what else could you ask for !

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing like picking up a book by Charles Dickens, especially the great Christmas stories. A classic author everyone needs to read

[Tiffany Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice collection, though A Christmas Carol is definitely the best story in it.

[Jon Hand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hit and miss. Fantastic prose and impressive vocabulary but lots of filler and dull stories

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a Christmas Carol! All of Dickens stories are so good and really put me in the Christmas spirit!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming, disturbing, and quaint collection of stories.

[Jeana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed a lot of these shorter stories about Christmas that Dickens wrote.