Listen to a sample
Hard Times
- Author
- Charles Dickens
- Narrator
- Andrew Jackson
- Publisher
- Stream Readers
- Publish Date
- 3 September 2026
- Run Time
- 9 hours 44 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Charles Dickens
- Narrator
- Andrew Jackson
- Duration
- 9 hours 44 minutes
- Release Date
- 3 September 2026
- ISBN
- 9781648754357
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Stream Readers
- Genre
- Fiction: literary and general non-genre
Synopsis
Hard Times is a powerful classic novel about education, industry, class, and the cost of reducing human life to facts, profit, and efficiency. Set in the fictional industrial town of Coketown, the story follows Thomas Gradgrind, a man who believes only in reason, statistics, and practical knowledge, and the emotional consequences this worldview has on his children, his students, and the society around him. Through characters shaped by factories, rigid schooling, social ambition, poverty, and moral blindness, the novel explores the conflict between imagination and utility, compassion and calculation, labor and power. At once a social critique and a deeply human story, Hard Times remains one of Charles Dickens's most direct and memorable attacks on industrial-age materialism. This Audiobook was narrated using AI-generated voice technology.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.