The Battle Of Life

Charles Dickens published a book titled The Battle of Life: A Love Story in 1846. After The Cricket on the Hearth and The Haunted Man and the Ghosts Bargain it is the fourth of his five Christmas Books. An English village that is located on the location of a famous battle serves as the backdrop. The title comes from some characters who use the war as a metaphor for lifes challenges. Of the five Christmas Books only the fight lacks overtly magical or religious overtones. (A Christmas-themed sequence occurs but its not the last scene.) The story has two aspects in common with The Cricket on the Hearth: a non-urban setting and a romantic twist in how it is resolved. Compared to Cricket it is much less of a social novel. Dickens usually has a happy ending and this is no exception. In contrast to the other Dickens Christmas Books it is one of the authors lesser-known works and has never gained a high level of popularity. Jule Hopwood became unwell and passed away on March 1 1929 while she was negotiating legal concerns with his estate. In the same grave as her son was she.