The Chimes by Charles Dickens - Audiobook

The Chimes, by Charles Dickens. Read by Ruth Golding.

The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In is the second of Charles Dickens' Christmas books, published in 1844. Its contemporary setting is the "Hungry Forties", a time of social and political unrest, and the book has a strong moral message. It remained popular for many years, although its fame has since been eclipsed by that of A Christmas Carol, the first of the series.

Our hero Toby ("Trotty") Veck is a poor but hard-working man, whose beloved daughter Meg is due to marry on New Year's Day. Trotty, who is appalled by newspaper reports of crime and immorality, is further depressed by his encounters with the rich and influential Alderman Cute and Sir Joseph Bowley, who make him feel that the poor have no right to exist in society, and his daughter has no right to marry. Trotty hears messages in the chimes of the church bells, which lead him to visit the belfry at night on New Year's Eve...(Introduction by Ruth Golding)

[ssake_IAL_Research]

I have concluded, after over 15 years of intensive independent research, that the reason none of Charles Dickens other Christmas stories could hold a candle to "A Christmas Carol, " is that he wasn't the original author of the "Carol." Rather, I've concluded that it was co-authored by an American couple named Mathew and Abby Whittier. All Dickens did was to hurriedly and sloppily commercialize it in to a ghost story, to make quick cash, because he was worried about falling into debt. He called this, in personal correspondence, "a little scheme."