Book Review : The Chimes

The Chimes is the second in the series of five novellas with strong social and moral messages that Charles Dickens published during the 1840s. The Chimes was published the year after A Christmas Carol and had a hard act to follow.

Toby Veck, nicknamed ‘Trotty’ as he delivers letters for a living, is based on the steps of a church where the bells (The Chimes) have encouraged him for years as he goes about his business. In the novella, on a particular New Year’s Eve, Trotty is dispirited and discouraged by the travails of the poor. His negative thoughts are interrupted by The Chimes, calling him to pay them a visit. He climbs the tower and sees ghosts and goblins. The goblin of the Great Bell berates him for the wrong he has done the Chimes in losing faith in man’s destiny to improve. He is shown the future with himself dead at the foot of the tower. He is shown how detrimental his passing would be and how his loved ones would suffer.

Trotty awakes on New Year’s Day with his faith in humanity revived and reinvigorated, all thanks to those Chimes.