The Cricket on the Hearth

In full The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home, is a short tale written by Charles Dickens as a Christmas book for 1845 but published in 1846.

The title creature is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. A symbol of good luck and health.

A cricket on the hearth has been a sign of household luck for millennia and in many cultures. Crickets were widely considered to bring good fortune as well as a kind of companionship. Representations of a cricket have long been included as a fireplace decoration.