A Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home

Written by Charles Dickens

Narrated by B. J. Harrison

Mrs. Peerybingle is bright and sharp as a tack. Her husband John is a carrier, a profession as lumbering and sturdy as he is himself. When the crafty Tackleton seeks to cause mischief to forward his own nefarious plans, John’s steady heart is sorely wounded. Luckily there is a cricket on the hearth to act as a guardian angel for all of them.

A huge commercial success when it was first published in 1845, this Christmas fantasy is a lovely portrait of Victorian life, “crammed with extra bonbons, French plums and sweetness.” (-William Makepeace Thackeray)

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.J. Harrison
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781950524938

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced ‘Oliver Twist’, the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day.

Reviews for A Cricket on the Hearth

[wvlibrarydude · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Started slow with dialogue and action that became confusing at time. It took about two thirds of the book to get to where things started to develop into a story one could follow. The writing quickly turned into a story that drew me in and held me to the end. A four star except for the beginning, but it is well worth finish.

[nadinec.keels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When all is well in John and Dot Peerybingle's happy home, the cricket chirps away. When something's amiss, the cricket goes silent. Now this sudden silence in the Peerybingles' lives signals a staggering turn of events coming to them and to a few of their neighbors in The Cricket on the Hearth by author Charles Dickens.Well! I realize this classic novella has been treated as a Christmas tale since its original publication. While the story itself doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas, I ate up this warm and whimsical Fairy Tale of Home as I would a holiday read.It's clever and fussy in style, abundantly old-fashioned, and peppered with caricatural characters. There's a jaunty bounce to much of it (for instance, is not the surname "Peerybingle" as jolly and over-the-top as "Fezziwig," that jolly good surname in A Christmas Carol?) and the humor is plenty chuckle-worthy.It took some time before I caught on to the plot, but I was all right with waiting—what with a personified kettle and the adorable Boxer bounding and barking about and all. But I became more interested as the plot really kicked in, along with the fantastical/magical aspects of this homey story that speaks on family and friends, truth and trust.Oh, it isn't on the same level as the renowned Carol, but this tale is worth a read for fans of Dickens.

[kristykay22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In his third Christmas novella, Dickens moves away from the moral instruction of a Christmas Carol and the strong (too strong, in my opinion) social commentary of The Chimes into a pleasant domestic drama. Mr. and Mrs. Peerybingle have a happy home and a young baby, looked after by their comic nursemaid Tilly Slowboy. John is much older than his wife of one year, Dot, but they have a sweet and loving relationship, accompanied by the happy sound of a cricket on their hearth. Their neighbor, the Scroogey Tackleton (who everyone calls "Gruff and Tackleton" after his toy shop, which includes the name of his dead partner) is also looking to marry a much younger woman, Dot's school chum May, and he enlists John and Dot to help convince May that this is a good idea (May's mother is already sold on the idea because of Tackleton's money). They gather at the home of Tackleton's poorly-treated toymaker, Caleb, and his blind daughter Bertha for a Sunday dinner, and things go awry when a strange old man who hitched a ride on John Peerbingle's cart joins the group. Tackleton sees only the bad in everything (and swears that he always smashes any crickets on HIS hearth!) and sows seeds of doubt in John's mind about Dot's faithfulness. After a long night wrestling with his feelings and being swayed by that sweet cricket and his fairies, John faces the new day with a clear mind. In the end, Dot explains everything, things turn out quite well, and even old Gruff and Tackleton sees the error of his ways. There is a big happy dance and things seem wonderful until we hit the last paragraph: "But what is this! Even as I listen to them, blithely, and turn towards Dot, for one last glimpse of a little figure very pleasant to me, she and the rest have vanished into air, and I am left alone. A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child’s-toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains."Dickens! You rascal! Despite his attempt at a downer of an ending, this is a fun and engaging read. Sentimental, but perked up with humor and love for his characters, even their sweet dog. It is easy to see why this was a huge hit in its day and spawned multiple stage versions -- it has a romping Shakespearean comedy feel to it with disguised lovers, misunderstandings, and everything being put right by the end. Highly recommended for any Dickens / Victorian story lovers.

[quondame · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What could project Gutenberg be thinking to put that constipated cricket cover on this book. 3 old men, 3 young women, one married to one of old men, one the daughter, one the fiance. This depiction of domesticity in a May-October relationship shadowed by the obvious blight in the coming May-December marriage is really not of our time, and not to my taste.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Part of the Christmas books written by Dicken's, this being the third and much less dark than The Chimes and The Christmas Carol. I listened (relistened) to the audio by read by Jim Dale. He is good but I kept hearing Harry Potter characters. This is a nice story, ends well. It has three "chirps" or parts.

[edward.lorn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Cricket on the Hearth Review If you're a fan of Charles Dickens, this book is a must read. If you're a fan of Jim Dale, this is a must listen. The audio book is definitely the way to go here, though, because Dale is as amazingly versatile as ever, and perfectly compliments Dickens's prose.However, if you don't like Dickens, Dale will not change your mind. You will quite possibly hate this book. Like Shakespeare, he can be somewhat of an acquired taste, much because this style of writing has been dead for a century.

[nosajeel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nowhere close to A Christmas Carol, and a little overly sentimental, the biggest virtue of the book is Tackleton, the cynical toymaker, although his conversion to good at the end is unconvincing and never would have happened in one of Dickens' novels.

[mikedraper · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It takes a while for the reader to understand what is happening in this story. Possibly, I'm used to a long character development in novels and this is a short story. I also didn't understand what was meant by a cricket in the hearth.Caleb lives in an impoverished home with his blind daughter, Bertha. His boss, Takleton, is stern and to make his daughter feel better about his boss, Caleb exposes Takleton's virtues. He does such a good job that Bertha falls in love with Takleton.We learn that Takleton is to be married and Bertha feels hurt with the news. Then a new character appears and there is a major change in the direction of the story.The conclusion is nicely done and everyone forgives one another and they find happiness.The short story came out as a Christmas story and gives readers a lesson about love and forgiveness.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A man and woman happily married only one year, with a new baby, invite a stranger into their home. In the next few days, their marriage is practically dissolved by misunderstandings. In this story we meet several of their neighbors as well. All lovely characters, created by the master character builder, Charles Dickens.The cricket in this story is somewhat like the Oracle at Delphi, never showing an untruth, but very difficult to interpret. I enjoyed the humor in the story, although I became very impatient with a couple of the characters. Dickens always makes one woman saccharine sweet and annoying, and one man as dense as a brick. Still, the formula makes for a nice little tale.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great read...Charles Dickens Christmas novels...duh. Thanks, Audible, for the freebie.

[susiesharp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Got this free from Audible narrated by Jim Dale, and so glad I did. I really enjoyed this short story, who knew a cricket could be a “fairy godmother”. It’s Dickens it has happy and sad moments, and of course a moral about changing the way you act and live and some Christmas miracles.3 ½ Stars

[bookishbat · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dickens at his most melodramatic. The villain is clearly The Villain, all but twirling his mustache to wed the young girl who obviously doesn't love him. There is a heroine thought to have committed a moral crime, a hero wronged, a good/saintly girl with a handicap (blindness), etc. etc. Melodrama in all ways, and because it's a short story we don't get much character development, so we don't really see any of these as complete, three dimensional beings. As in most melodrama, there is indeed a happy ending. So there's that, I suppose.

I'd put this down as worth reading only because it's Dickens, if you need a reminder that in some ways he wasn't always better than his contemporary writers. If you find this shockingly dull then I must assure you that there is a LOT of this sort of short story filling up various magazines of the times. They're not reprinted for a reason (the dullness/predictability), and you get the sense that most authors churned this sort of thing out to pay the bills.

[lhlogan1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A solid read by Dickens.

[derekt2rowswell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

1st 1927. Very good condition without dustwrapper. 'A Fairy Tale of Home'. Red cloth, gilt titles and vignette. Pictorial endpapers. 8 colour plates plus b/w illustrations. 182 pages, top edge gilt. Spine and corners bumped. Some uneven fading to spine and covers. Foxing to first few and last few pages. Contents clean.

[mbmackay · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is Dickens' third Christmas book, and the supernatural theme continues with fairies this time, to follow the ghosts and goblins of the previous books. It is a sickly sweet folksy tale of misunderstandings between lovers, and characters in disguise, and people planning to marry the wrong person - a little like a Shakespearean farce. Just a little too schmaltzy for me. Read Feb 2012.

[souloftherose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The third of Mr Dickens' Christmas Books and much less gloomy than The Chimes. A gentle story about marriage, love and fidelity; Dickens left social criticism to one side for this one. He wanted The Cricket to be '... a vein of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful, beaming references in everything to Home, and Fireside.' It's Christmas and John Peerybingle has been married to his much younger wife Dot, for almost a year when he is led to believe by the grisly toymaker, Mr Tackleton, that she is having an affair. Tackleton himself is due to be married to another younger woman and the toymaker's assistant, Caleb Plummer, realises that by pretending to his blind daughter that Tackleton has been generous and loving to them their whole lives (when of course he has been the exact opposite) that Caleb has caused his daughter to fall in love with Tackleton and she is distraught that Tackleton is getting married to someone else.But the cricket on the hearth sings to Peerybingle and helps him to remember the love he has for his young wife and there is almost a fairy tale happy ending with Tackleton's reform being so rapid as to be slightly startling. As usual for Dickens, his characterisations are brilliant and even if the rapid reform of Tackleton is a little too rapid to be truly realistic, the Christmas Books were intended to be fables rather than gritty, realistic dramas and the ending is truly heartwarming.