The Chimes, written in Genoa, Italy, is the second of Dickens' Christmas stories in which he attempts to convince the upper classes to have compassion for the poor. Taking place on New Year's Eve, a poor man named Trotty begins to despair about...
In 1845, Dickens planned a periodical about home life called Cricket. The plan did not materialize, so he turned the idea into The Cricket on the Hearth, a book with a domestic setting. This was published as Dickens' third Christmas book by...