The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home

The Cricket on the Hearth is a Christmas novella by Charles Dickens. John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and stays at Peerybingle's house for a few days.

The life of the Peerybingles intersects with that of Caleb Plummer, a poor toy-maker employed by the miser Mr. Tackleton. Caleb has a blind daughter Bertha, and a son Edward, who traveled to South America and is thought to be dead. The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward's sweetheart, May, but she doesn't have feelings for Tackleton¿