Charles Dickens - Short Stories

Charles Dickens is known not only for his novels, but also for his short stories, particularly "*A Christmas Carol*", "*The Cricket on the Hearth*", "*The Battle of Life*" and "*The Haunted Man*" which were all written for the Christmas market, and lay emphasis on family love and the delights of home. But there is more to these stories than surface sentimentality: their eager anticipation by a whole nation tells us much about the age Dickens lived in and these stories never would have survi...