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Hard Times
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
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Publisher's summary
Exclusively from Audible
Despite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley.
Hard Times weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love and to have no empathy, their lives completely devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination. Only after a series of crises does their father realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.
Other characters include Sissy, the circus girl with love to spare who is deserted and adopted into the Gradgrind family, as well as the honest mill worker Stephen Blackpool and the bombastic mill owner Josiah Bounderby.
The story is a vehement condemnation of industrialisation and its dehumanising effects on its workers and communities in mid-19th-century England. George Orwell praised Dickens and the novel for its 'generous anger.'
Concentrated and compressed in its narrative form, Hard Times is at once a fable, an audiobook of ideas, and a social story that seeks to engage directly and analytically with political issues.
It may be one of Dickens's shortest works but it is also one of his triumphs.
One of eight children, Dickens came from a very poor family, with his father eventually being sent to debtor's prison. At the age of 12, Dickens was forced to start work in a blacking factory in order to help clear the family debt. His troublesome childhood likely contributed to some of the novel's ideas and lent him a sympathetic voice for the poor.
Due to his vivid depictions of the poverty-stricken, 'Dickensian' has ingrained itself in the English language, becoming the choice word to describe an unacceptable level of poverty.
Narrator Biography
Martin Jarvis is one of Britain's most admired actors. His audiobook output is legendary. He is described in Vanity Fair as 'the Olivier of audiobooks' and 'genius of the Spoken Word' in the LA Times. Award-winning recordings range from titles by Charles Dickens, P.G. Wodehouse, and Michael Frayn to thrillers by Jeffrey Archer, Wilbur Smith, Ian Fleming, and Dick Francis.
Martin Jarvis has starred in many acclaimed West End and National Theatre productions and received the Theatre World Award as Jeeves on Broadway. Numerous UK television appearances encompass Law & Order, Doctor Who, Endeavour, Inspector Morse, and The Forsyte Saga. In America: Murder She Wrote, Numb3rs, Cosmos and Walker, Texas Ranger. Films include Titanic, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Wreck-It Ralph. Videogames: 'Alfred' in Batman, 'Finn McMissile' in Cars.
Martin is invested by HM the Queen as Officer of Order of the British Empire (OBE).
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horrible technically - echoes at most of the words
- By James D. Coburn on 12-30-15
By: Wilkie Collins
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The Warden
- By: Anthony Trollope
- Narrated by: Nigel Hawthorne
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the world of the Victorian professional and landed classes, the story centres on Mr Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a charity far in excess of the sum devoted to it.
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a delight
- By Janet on 12-22-08
By: Anthony Trollope
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The Shuttle
- By: Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Narrated by: Tabi That
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Rosalie Vanderpoel, the daughter of an American multimillionaire marries an impoverished English baronet and goes to live in England. She all but loses contact with her family in America. Years later her younger sister Bettina, beautiful, intelligent and extremely rich, goes to England to find what has happened to her sister. She finds Rosalie shabby and dispirited, cowed by her husband's ill-treatment. Bettina sets about to rectify matters.
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More than Lovely
- By jTacy67 on 01-17-18
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A Room with a View
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Rebecca Hall
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In this rich new audio production, acclaimed British American actress Rebecca Hall brings one of E. M. Forster's most admired works to life in this classic tale of human struggle. A charming young Englishwoman, Lucy Honeychurch, is wooed by both free-spirited George Emerson and wealthy Cecil Vyse while vacationing in Italy. Though attracted to George, Lucy becomes engaged to Cecil despite twice turning down his proposals. On hearing of the news, George confesses his love, leaving Lucy torn between marrying the more socially acceptable Cecil or George, the man she knows would bring her true happiness. Should Lucy choose social acceptance or true love?
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A lovely performance, and a wonderful story
- By Robert on 01-19-19
By: E. M. Forster
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Lady Audley's Secret
- By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- Narrated by: Olivia Poulet
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of The Christmas Hirelings comes this Audible Exclusive production of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s classic sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret. English actress Olivia Poulet gives an assured and captivating narration; a cornerstone of the genre and a scandal at the time of its publication, Lady Audley’s Secret is an entertaining and shocking tale of high drama and shifting perceptions.
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Classic 19th Century “sensation novel”
- By Susan on 08-20-19
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Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
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Perfect!!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-21-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
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The Best Ghost Stories Ever Told
- Best Stories Ever Told
- By: Stephen Brennan - editor
- Narrated by: J. M. Badger, Imelda Pot
- Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A big, brilliant, spooky collection of classic and contemporary ghost stories that will make you hesitate before turning off that light.
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A very mixed review
- By Michael Mayer on 08-05-15
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Howards End
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Howards End is a beautifully subtle tale of two very different families brought together by an unusual event. The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes are practical and materialistic, leading lives of "telegrams and anger". When the elder Mrs. Wilcox dies and her family discovers she has left their country home - Howards End - to one of the Schlegel sisters, a crisis between the two families is precipitated that takes years to resolve.
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Fantastic Narration in Delightful Story
- By Wren on 05-05-18
By: E. M. Forster
What listeners say about Hard Times
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Christopher Thomas
- 01-19-24
Good Dickens, Great Performance
Jarvis, as always, is an excellent narrator. I wish Audible had taken the time to properly divide the book into chapters.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-19-20
I like Dickens!
And Martin Jarvis does a superb job of bringing this story alive. Enjoyed this story--not my favorite Dickens story but one that I am glad I listened to.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jefferson
- 09-11-11
A Classic: Head vs. Heart in an Industrial Hell
This Audiobook of Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times read by Martin Jarvis is excellent. I found myself by turns laughing, groaning, or tearing up, depending on how Dickens channeled by Jarvis wanted to make me feel.
The story is fast-paced and full of wonderful Dickensian descriptions (of buildings and people) and deliciously grotesque or charmingly good characters and plenty of admirably biting social commentary and satire directed at the awful union of Utilitarianism (fact-based rationalization of human beings in the service of the greater good) with the Industrial Revolution (chimneys spewing filthy writhing snakes of smoke, machinery moving up and down like imprisoned maddened elephants, workers dehumanized as "Hands," all of it polluting the world while enriching the owners' class). It is the angriest, most moving, and least corny book I've read by Dickens' So many memorable scenes, as when "Girl Number Twenty" is asked to define a horse in the M'Choakumchild classroom, or when with bitter irony the factory mill windows lit at night are described as looking like fairy palaces, or when Josiah Bounderby's mother finally sets the record straight.
Martin Jarvis is in fine form throughout, giving each character his or her own perfectly suitable voice and manner of speaking and reading Dickens' words with great sensitivity and understanding and emotion and clarity. Hearing his Bounderby's coarse bluster, Stephen Blackpool's sad self-effacement, Tom Gradgrind's sour self-pity, Sissy Jupe's pure sympathy, James Harthouse's amoral aristocratic bon mots, Mr. Sleary's kind showman lispings, or any of the other characters is great pleasure.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Neil
- 10-26-14
Another Dickens Classic Enjoy
I have read numerous Dickens and this is another great story with all the fantastic characters that Dickens is known for. Martin Jarvis narration is first rate. Jarvis does a great interpretation of Mr. Bounderby and the funniest Mr. Sleary. Sleary comes at the end of the book, but it is worth the download just to hear Sleary. I read this book long ago, but listening to DIckens is really the key, as you understand the character much more by listening. I know the book confronts the English society of the times, but this book like many Dickens books is about the characters. If you don't know Dickens this is a good starter book as it is far shorter than any of his other books. Most of Dickens books are 800 to 1000 pages while this one is in the 300 hundred range. I think this book will hook one into being a Dickens and Jarvis fan.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Elizabeth
- 09-30-17
Martin Jarvis is always superb!
The magnificent Martin Jarvis lovingly brings each of the characters to life in an unforgettable performance. I've never yet been disappointed by him or by Dickens. Highly recommended.
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3 people found this helpful