The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home

by Charles Dickens

"The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home" by Charles Dickens is a novella published in 1845. John Peerybingle, a humble carrier, lives happily with his young wife Dot until a mysterious elderly stranger arrives at their home. When the lodger is revealed to be a young man in disguise, and John witnesses an intimate moment between him and Dot, his world shatters. As jealousy consumes him, the cheerful cricket on their hearth intervenes with visions that challenge everything John believes about his wife's faithfulness.