The Charles Dickens Page

Charles Dickens'
Short Stories

Charles Dickens' Christmas Stories

Doctor Marigold

Dickens' Christmas number for All the Year Round for 1865. Dickens wrote the frame chapters (first and last) and contributed one of the stories (prescriptions) contained in Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions, the book Marigold writes for his adopted daughter. Dickens, in his capacity of editor of All the Year Round, invited other authors to contribute stories to the book.

Plot

Doctor Marigold, so named after the doctor that was present at his birth, is a cheap jack, a travelling auctioneer of inexpensive goods. He marries an ill-tempered woman and has a daughter whom the mother abuses. Both daughter and wife die leaving Marigold sad and alone. He hears of a deaf-and-dumb girl who is unwanted by her stepfather and bargains for and adopts the girl whom he names Sophy after his dead daughter. When Sophy reaches young womanhood Marigold sends her away to be educated. While Sophy is away Marigold buys a bigger cart and has it stocked with books for Sophy to read. He includes a books he has written himself for her called Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions. After two years Marigold and Sophy are reunited but Sophy is torn between her adopted father and a young deaf-and-dumb man she met at school. Marigold consents for them to be married and the couple relocate to China where the young man has a position as a clerk in a merchant house. They return five years later and Doctor Marigold is introduced to his granddaughter.

Characters

Marigold, Willum
Marigold, Doctor
Marigold, Sophy
Mim
Pickleson
Sophy

Mrs Lirriper's Lodging

Christmas story for All the Year Round 1863.

Emma Lirriper owns a boarding house at number 81 Norfolk Street, Strand. She and her lodger, Major Jackman, adopt the child of one of her lodgers who has died in childbirth.

Characters

Betley, Mr
Bobbo
Edson, Mr
Edson, Peggy
Jackman, Jemmy (Major)
Jane
Lirriper
Lirriper, Emma (Gran)
Lirriper, Jemmy Jackman
Maxey, Caroline
Perkinsop, Mary Ann
Polly
Seraphina
Sophy (Willing Sophy)
Wozenham, Miss

Mrs Lirriper's Legacy

Christmas story for All the Year Round 1864.

Emma Lirriper owner of a boarding house at number 81 Norfolk Street, Strand receives a mysterious legacy and travels to Sens, France to investigate.

Characters

Buffle, Mr
Buffle, Mrs
Buffle, Robina
Edson, Mr
George
Jackman, Jemmy (Major)
Lirriper
Lirriper, Emma
Lirriper, Jemmy Jackman
Lirriper, Dr Joshua
Madgers, Winifred
Rairyganoo, Sally
Wozenham, Miss

Back to Top Up Arrow



Affiliate Links Disclosure
The Charles Dickens Page is a member of affiliate programs at Amazon and Zazzle. This means that there are links that take users to sites where products that we recommend are offered for sale. If purchases are made on these sites The Charles Dickens Page receives a small commission.