<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[title results for The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain: a Fancy for Christmas Time]]></title><description><![CDATA[title results for The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain: a Fancy for Christmas Time]]></description><link>https://gateway.bibliocommons.com/v2/libraries/petoskey/rss/search?query=The%20Haunted%20Man%20and%20the%20Ghost%27s%20Bargain%3A%20a%20Fancy%20for%20Christmas%20Time&amp;searchType=title&amp;origin=core-catalog-explore&amp;view=grouped</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:49:05 GMT</lastBuildDate><item><title><![CDATA[A Christmas Carol]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Christmas Carol famously recounts the plight of Bob Cratchit, whose family finds joy even in poverty, and the transformation of his miserly boss Scrooge as he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future."The Chimes is Charles Dickens 1844 novella that concerns the disillusionment of Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor working-class man. When Trotty has lost his faith in Humanity and believes that his poverty is the result of his unworthiness he is visited on New Year's Eve by spirits to help restore his faith and show him that nobody is born evil, but rather that crime and poverty are things created by man. In The Cricket on the Hearth the title creature is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John's mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John's confidence and all ends happily. The Battle of Life is set in  an English village that stands on the site of a historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. In The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain Dickens narrates the hair-raising experiences of a professor. As the protagonist dwells on his past sorrows and mistakes, a phantom visits him. It offers him a bizarre escape from painful recollections of yesteryear by offering to eradicate his memory. On seeing the professor turn into a man devoid of emotions, the reader realizes how empty one becomes without a past. -- adapted from Goodreads.]]></description><link>https://petoskey.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S89C324399</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://petoskey.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S89C324399</guid><category><![CDATA[BK]]></category><category><![CDATA[eng]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Dickens, Charles]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Invalid Date</pubDate><comments>https://petoskey.bibliocommons.com/item/comment/324399089</comments><format>BK</format><subtitle></subtitle><language>eng</language><image_url/></item></channel></rss>