Hard Times (Macmillan Collector's Library)

Author: Charles Dickens

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 16.99 AUD
  • : 9781509825431
  • : Pan Macmillan
  • : Collector's Library, The
  • :
  • : 0.234
  • : August 2016
  • : 156mm X 100mm X 21mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 16.99
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Charles Dickens
  • : Macmillan Collector's Library
  • : Hardback
  • : New Edition
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  • : English
  • : 823/.8
  • :
  • : 416
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Barcode 9781509825431
9781509825431

Description

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school headmaster and model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder from any young minds. As a consequence, his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman and 'bully of humanity' Mr Bounderby, and his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling and robbery. And, as their fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe and victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool, Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism and machinery. Includes unique illustrations.

Promotion info

Charles Dickens' shortest novel, addressing themes of family, education and industrialisation in Victorian England

Author description

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth, where his father worked as a clerk. Living in London in 1824, Dickens was sent by his family to work in a blacking-warehouse, and his father was arrested and imprisoned for debt. Fortunes improved and Dickens returned to school, eventually becoming a parliamentary reporter. His first piece of fiction was published by a magazine in December 1832, and by 1836 he had begun his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. He focused his career on writing, completing fourteen highly successful novels including Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and Bleak House, as well as penning journalism, shorter fiction and travel books. He died in 1870.