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
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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
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
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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 |
