The Cricket on the Hearth (Illustrated)

The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home is a novella by Charles Dickens, published by Bradbury and Evans, and released December 20, 1845. Dickens began writing the book around October 17, 1845 and finished it by December 1. Like all of Dickens' Christmas books, it was published in book form, not as a serial. Dickens described the novel as "quiet and domestic ... innocent and pretty." It is subdivided into chapters called "Chirps", similar to the "Quarters" of The Chimes or the "Staves" of A Christmas Carol. It is the third of Dickens's five Christmas books.

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Dickens portrayal of the blind girl Bertha is significant. Victorians believed disabilities were inherited, and thus it was not socially acceptable for the blind to marry (although they often did in reality). In fiction courtship plots, the blind were often used to build tension since it was assumed they must be kept from marrying