Classic Literature.co.uk
Menu
Cover of Hard Times

Hard Times

Charles Dickens, 1854

A-level set textAQA A-level (Lit B)Edexcel A-level

An education devoted to facts shapes lives in an industrial town where imagination is treated as a dangerous indulgence.

Read the bookContents

Listen free: the LibriVox audiobook, read by volunteers. Press Listen in the reader to hear each chapter as you read.

Length
37 chapters
Reading time
About 7 hr 11 min
Words
102,669

Contents

  1. Book the First: Sowing
  2. Chapter 1: The One Thing Needful1 min
  3. Chapter 2: Murdering the Innocents9 min
  4. Chapter 3: A Loophole7 min
  5. Chapter 4: Mr. Bounderby10 min
  6. Chapter 5: The Keynote9 min
  7. Chapter 6: Sleary’s Horsemanship21 min
  8. Chapter 7: Mrs. Sparsit10 min
  9. Chapter 8: Never Wonder9 min
  10. Chapter 9: Sissy’s Progress12 min
  11. Chapter 10: Stephen Blackpool9 min
  12. Chapter 11: No Way Out12 min
  13. Chapter 12: The Old Woman8 min
  14. Chapter 13: Rachael13 min
  15. Chapter 14: The Great Manufacturer7 min
  16. Chapter 15: Father and Daughter12 min
  17. Chapter 16: Husband and Wife8 min
  18. Book the Second: Reaping
  19. Chapter 1: Effects in the Bank20 min
  20. Chapter 2: Mr. James Harthouse12 min
  21. Chapter 3: The Whelp7 min
  22. Chapter 4: Men and Brothers12 min
  23. Chapter 5: Men and Masters11 min
  24. Chapter 6: Fading Away19 min
  25. Chapter 7: Gunpowder19 min
  26. Chapter 8: Explosion20 min
  27. Chapter 9: Hearing the Last of It13 min
  28. Chapter 10: Mrs. Sparsit’s Staircase7 min
  29. Chapter 11: Lower and Lower14 min
  30. Chapter 12: Down7 min
  31. Book the Third: Garnering
  32. Chapter 1: Another Thing Needful9 min
  33. Chapter 2: Very Ridiculous14 min
  34. Chapter 3: Very Decided13 min
  35. Chapter 4: Lost15 min
  36. Chapter 5: Found14 min
  37. Chapter 6: The Starlight16 min
  38. Chapter 7: Whelp-Hunting18 min
  39. Chapter 8: Philosophical10 min
  40. Chapter 9: Final8 min