If I asked you to name one Charles Dickens book, I am sure that you would easily name A Christmas Carol. You might name others, but that one would be sure to be named. But did you know that Dickens wrote several Christmas novels, and multiple short stories
When we went England and Scotland earlier this year, we were flying home, and I was found some podcast episodes about books. One of the podcasts was talking to one of Charles Dickens descendants Lucinda Hawksley During the course of the podcast she talked about how there were multiple Christmas books and short stories, and so I was determined that this year I would read some.
A Christmas Carol was the first of Dickens Christmas book, and is the one that still continues to remembered nearly 200 years ago. There have been multiple movies including the one featuring the Muppets, plays, and the idea of being visited by the ghosts of the past, present and future continues to be referenced in modern culture. Recently I watched Sabrina Carpenter's A Nonsense Christmas and there was a skit in that show where they talked about being visited by the ghosted of past, present and future, as in when you are dating someone and they stop returning text, calls etc with no explanation.
I don't know why, but I hadn't read A Christmas Carol before. It seems like an oversight really, but it is what it is. I have rectified it now!
When I was reading it I was surprised at how readable it was, which lead me to wonder if maybe this was because I was pretty familiar with the story, so my brain was reading what it already know. Or maybe Dickens is really not that hard to read. He does love a run on sentence, and repetition, but for the most part it was an easy read. What that means is that really The Chimes was the story to gauge this accessibility on. After all, I was not familiar with this story at all. And my outcome - well, it is definitely readable.
I don't feel like I need to spend too much time on talking about A Christmas Carol, other than to say that I can see myself reading it again in the Christmas futures, but I did want to talk a little more about The Chimes.
The Chimes, or to give it it's full title The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In, was written one year after the hugely successful A Christmas Carol, and to be honest, it has a lot of similarities in terms of the themes that are being talked about. It was very successful when it was published, but has not stood the test of time in the same way.
In A Christmas Carol, the main character is the rich man Ebenezer Scrooge, but in The Chimes it is a very poor ticket porter by the name of Toby Veck, also known as Trotty. We first meet Trotty in the present, when we learn that his beloved daughter Meg is to marry her fiance Richard on New Years Day. They are poor but they are determined to marry and build their life together. However, a rich man name Alderman Cute plants doubts in their minds about being able to do so given their situation in life. Alderman Cute and Sir Joseph Bowley have very firm ideas about the poor, which basically say that it is their own fault that they are poor, and if they cannot pay their debts or meet their bills then they must be "Put Down", as in sent to jail.
Next we see Trotty in the near future, then much further into the future as he learns what becomes of both he himself and his family and friends, some of whom have spent considerable portions of their lives in and out of jail.All the while, Trotty hears the chimes, the bells in the local church. Sometimes, they call encouragement to him. Other times, the chimes are far more nefarious, but they are ever present.
Dickens was championing the rights of the poor, to say that mercy and charity were of no less importance than justice, that being poor does not make them automatically unable to be valuable members of society, destined for a life of crime.
Ultimately, then end of the story is quite uplifting but it does get quite dark at times.
There are another 3 novellas in the book that I have, but I won't get to them this Christmas. I think it is likely that I might re-read A Christmas Carol and one of the other stories next year but we will see.
This is my contribution to A Very Dickens Christmas hosted at Snapdragon Alcove. I am also sharing it with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz.
In closing, I wish all those that are celebrating a very Merry Christmas, and to all of us a very safe and happy holidays and New Year period.
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