Mrs. Peerybingle is bright and sharp as a tack. Her husband John is a carrier, a profession as lumbering and sturdy as he is himself. When the crafty Tackleton seeks to cause mischief to forward his own nefarious plans, John's steady heart is sorely wounded. Luckily there is a cricket on the hearth to act as a guardian angel for all of them. ¶ A huge commercial success when it was first published in 1845, this Christmas fantasy is a lovely portrait of Victorian life, 'crammed with extra bonbons, French plums and sweetness.' (-William Makepeace Thackeray)