Hard Times

1854

Dickens' 1854 novel of Coketown: Thomas Gradgrind's school of facts and nothing but facts, Louisa's bargained marriage to Bounderby, the honest weaver Stephen Blackpool, and Sissy Jupe of the circus. Serialized in Household Words in three books, Sowing, Reaping, and Garnering, and dedicated to Thomas Carlyle.