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Hard Times (version 2 dramatic reading)

Hard Times (version 2 dramatic reading)

Author(s):

Genre(s): ,

Narrators:

Number of Chapters: 37

Length: 12 hours

Language: English

Charles Dickens' 1854 novel opens with the philosophy of education espoused by the eminently practical Mr. Gradgrind, who prizes "facts and calculations." He raises his children, most prominently Louisa and Tom, to eschew imagination and emotion and embrace order and reason. The results are disastrous: Louisa marries out of duty to the supposed self-made man Mr. Bounderby, while Tom grows up dissolute, ultimately commits theft and blames it on an unfortunate laborer, Stephen Blackpool. Set in the fictional Coketown, a mill town in the north of England, Dickens' novel satirizes capitalism, social mobility, class stratification, and Utilitarianism. This dramatic reading of the novel features a full cast of LibriVox volunteers, who lend their voices to Dickens' vibrant comic characters. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)

Cast
Narrator: Bob Neufeld
Mr. Gradgrind: Marty Kris
Sissy Jupe: J L Raimundo
Bitzer: mb
Gentleman: Tom Crawford
Louisa Gradgrind: Arielle Lipshaw
Mr. Bounderby: Andy Minter
Mrs. Gradgrind: Beth Thomas
Tom Gradgrind: Max Korlinge
Mr. E. W. B. Childers: David Lawrence
Master Kidderminster: Elizabeth Klett
Mr. Sleary: Ron Altman
Mrs. Sparsit: Elizabeth Klett
Stephen Blackpool: Nigel Boydell
Rachael: Karen Savage
Mrs. Blackpool: Bev J. Stevens
Mrs. Pegler: Sally McConnell
James Harthouse: Algy Pug
Slackbridge: John Steigerwald
Voice 1: sylly
Voice 2: J L Raimundo
Jane Gradgrind: Goldfish
Waiter: Nigel Boydell
Man: Algy Pug
Clown: Bev J. Stevens

Text prepared by Arielle Lipshaw and Elizabeth Klett
Audio edited by Elizabeth Klett

Listening:
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Book 1, Chapter 01, The One Thing Needful (Group)
Book 1, Chapter 02, Murdering the Innocents ()
Book 1, Chapter 03, A Loophole ()
Book 1, Chapter 04, Mr. Bounderby ()
Book 1, Chapter 05, The Keynote ()
Book 1, Chapter 06, Sleary's Horsemanship ()
Book 1, Chapter 07, Mrs. Sparsit ()
Book 1, Chapter 08, Never Wonder ()
Book 1, Chapter 09, Sissy's Progress ()
Book 1, Chapter 10, Stephen Blackpool ()
Book 1, Chapter 11, No Way Out ()
Book 1, Chapter 12, The Old Woman ()
Book 1, Chapter 13, Rachael ()
Book 1, Chapter 14, The Great Manufacturer ()
Book 1, Chapter 15, Father and Daughter ()
Book 1, Chapter 16, Husband and Wife ()
Book 2, Chapter 01, Effects in the Bank ()
Book 2, Chapter 02, Mr. James Harthouse ()
Book 2, Chapter 03, The Whelp ()
Book 2, Chapter 04, Men and Brothers ()
Book 2, Chapter 05, Men and Masters ()
Book 2, Chapter 06, Fading Away ()
Book 2, Chapter 07, Gunpowder ()
Book 2, Chapter 08, Explosion ()
Book 2, Chapter 09, Hearing the Last of It ()
Book 2, Chapter 10, Mrs. Sparsit's Staircase ()
Book 2, Chapter 11, Lower and Lower ()
Book 2, Chapter 12, Down ()
Book 3, Chapter 01, Another Thing Needful ()
Book 3, Chapter 02, Very Ridiculous ()
Book 3, Chapter 03, Very Decided ()
Book 3, Chapter 04, Lost ()
Book 3, Chapter 05, Found ()
Book 3, Chapter 06, The Starlight ()
Book 3, Chapter 07, Whelp-Hunting ()
Book 3, Chapter 08, Philosophical ()
Book 3, Chapter 09, Final ()
The audiobook Hard Times (version 2 dramatic reading) falls under the genres of , . It is written by .