Charles Dickens created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. After the success of A Christmas Carol in 1843 Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining what he called "the Carol philosophy" to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. In typical fashion he drove his message home with a mixture of humor and good cheer. Although subsequent Christmas books sold well at the time of their initial release, they have not enjoyed the staying power of A Christmas Carol. The Christmas books, particularly The Chimes, the Cricket, and the Carol, were the centerpiece of Dickens' public reading tours in the 1850s and 60s with A Christmas Carol far and away the most popular with audiences. Dickens discontinued the Christmas books after The Haunted Man, devoting his time to the publication of weekly magazines, Household Words (1850-1858) and All the Year Round (1859-1867), in which he included annual Christmas stories. Henceforth Dickens was forever linked with the celebration of Christmas. We present them here as a special Icon classic five audiobook collection.
