The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home

By Charles Dickens

The Cricket on the Hearth is a novella by Charles Dickens, written in 1845. It is the third of Dickens' five Christmas books, the others being A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1847).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Classics
• Release date: Feb 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781633558885

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. Regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Dickens had a prolific collection of works including fifteen novels, five novellas, and hundreds of short stories and articles. The term “cliffhanger endings” was created because of his practice of ending his serial short stories with drama and suspense. Dickens’ political and social beliefs heavily shaped his literary work. He argued against capitalist beliefs, and advocated for children’s rights, education, and other social reforms. Dickens advocacy for such causes is apparent in his empathetic portrayal of lower classes in his famous works, such as The Christmas Carol and Hard Times.

Reviews for The Cricket on the Hearth

[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.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.

[lhlogan1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A solid read by Dickens.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[therebelprince · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Cricket on the Hearth is Dickens' 11th major work, and the third of his five Christmas novellas. To my surprise, on re-reading, this is actually a dark horse contender, full of delight and comic misunderstanding. It's by no means as powerful as A Christmas Carol, but the symbolism of the household cricket (and the social mores misconstrued throughout the novel) is at least an interesting window into the everyday world of 1845. This is exactly the kind of story told around the hearth, and - while I wouldn't suggest anyone go out of their way to read it - it is a sweet tale.

[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

[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.