The Battle of Life

The Battle of Life: A Love Story is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in 1846. It is the fourth of his five 'Christmas Books', preceded by A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) and followed by The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848).

The setting is an English village that stands on the site of an historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title.

The Battle of Life is the only one of the five Christmas Books that has no supernatural or explicitly religious elements. The story bears some resemblance to The Cricket on the Hearth in two respects: it has a non urban setting, and it is resolved with a romantic twist. It is even less of a social novel than is Cricket. As is typical with Dickens, the ending is a happy one.

© 2015 Anncona Media AB (Audiobook): 9789176054147
© 2017 Anncona Media AB (Ebook): 9789176053898

Release date

Audiobook: January 1, 2015
Ebook: December 22, 2017