The Chimes (Annotated Edition)

🔔 Hope, hardship, and the ringing call to change.

Charles Dickens’s The Chimes (1844), the second of his Christmas Books, is a powerful tale about poverty, dignity, and the possibility of renewal. The story follows Trotty Veck, a humble porter worn down by hardship and by the belief that the poor are to blame for their own suffering. On New Year’s Eve, the great church bells—the Chimes—summon him into a visionary world where he witnesses the grim futures facing those he loves unless compassion and justice prevail.

Blending supernatural vision with social critique, Dickens exposes the cruelty of Victorian attitudes toward the poor while offering a message of hope: that kindness and belief in human goodness can transform both individuals and society. Equal parts haunting and uplifting, The Chimes remains a vivid call to empathy and reform.