The Seven Poor Travellers

Gathered at Watts' Charity, a sparse yet cosy almshouse, seven travellers share stories following a Christmas Eve dinner. Marriages mixed up with blackmail, theft, and infant abandonment appear alongside dreams of nearly-free diamonds in this intriguing collection of holiday stories. The fifth Christmas number of Dickens' hugely popular periodical Household Words, and the first for which he created a unifying theme, this collection offers tales of wartime camaraderie and heroic servants from four of Dickens' respected colleagues in addition to his own contributions.