Hard Times (Everyman's University Library) (Victorian, #111) (Orient Blackswan Abridged Texts)

by Charles Dickens

Kate Flint (Notes)

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'Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else'

Dickens's novel honouring the value of the human heart in an age of materialism centres on Coketown, where Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school owner and model of Utilitarian success, feeds his pupils and his family with facts, banning fancy and wonder from young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa becomes trapped in a loveless marriage, and his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in crime. As their fortunes cross with those of a free-spirited circus girl and a victimized weaver, Gradgrind is forced to question everything he believes in.

Edited with an Introduction and notes by KATE FLINT

  • ISBN10 014143967X
  • ISBN13 9780141439679
  • Publish Date 27 February 2003 (first published 1 April 1854)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Out of Print 8 March 2021
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
  • Imprint Penguin Classics