Hard Times

This enriched edition of HARD TIMES contains a number of features intended to increase the enjoyment of modern readers and students. In addition to the complete test of the novel and penetrating introduction, it includes a fascinating collection of essays on the life and times of Charles Dickens, as well as a selection of the best critical commentaries.

There are no heroes or villains on HARD TIMES, only the exploiters and their victims.

It is the story of the beautiful and proud Louisa who is forced to marry Josiah Bounderby, a coarse and pompous man concerned only with his own self-esteem and making money.
Threatening their empty, loveless marriage is James Harthouse, relentless in his pursuit of Louisa, always showing her the deceit and mockery of her meaningless life.
These three -- Louisa, Bounderby, and Harthouse -- form a classic love triangle which is brought powerfully alive by brilliant strokes of Dickens's psychological genius.

HARD TIMES

Charles Dickens's masterpiece of the struggle of the individual against society.