Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
The novel follows a classical tripartite structure, and the titles of each book are related to Galatians 6:7, "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Book I is entitled "Sowing", Book II is entitled "Reaping", and the third is "Garnering."
Book I: Sowing
Superintendent Mr. Gradgrind opens the novel at his school in Coketown stating, "Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts",
Louisa and Thomas, two of Mr. Gradgrind's children, go after school to see the touring circus run by Mr. Sleary, only to meet their father, who orders them home.
thumb|Gradgrind apprehends Louisa and Tom, his two eldest children, caught peeping at the circus.
Josiah Bounderby, "a man perfectly devoid of sentiment", is revealed as Gradgrind's close friend.
As they consider her a bad influence on the other children, Gradgrind and Bounderby prepare to dismiss Sissy from the school; but the three soon discover her father has abandoned her thereto, in hope that she will lead a better life without him.
Amongst the mill workers, known as "the Hands",
Gradgrind tells Louisa that Josiah Bounderby, 30 years her senior, has proposed marriage to her,
Book 2: Reaping
Book Two opens on Bounderby's bank in Coketown, over which the "light porter",
Harthouse is introduced to Bounderby, who accepts him and then regales him with improbable and brief mentions of his childhood.
At a crowded union meeting, the agitator Slackridge accuses Stephen Blackpool of treachery because he will not join the union, and Stephen learns he is to be 'sent to Coventry' - shunned by all his fellow workers.
When a robbery takes place at the bank, Stephen is suspected of the crime; even more so as he had left the town the next day.
Book 3: Garnering
At Bounderby's London hotel, Mrs. Sparsit gives him the news her surveillance has brought. Bounderby takes her back to Coketown and to Stone Lodge, where Louisa is resting. Gradgrind tells Bounderby that Louisa resisted Harthouse's advances, but has experienced a crisis and needs time to recover. Bounderby is immensely indignant and ill-mannered, especially towards Mrs. Sparsit for misleading him. Ignoring Gradgrind's pleas, he announces that unless Louisa returns to him the next day, the marriage will end. She does not come back.
Harthouse leaves Coketown after Sissy tells him never to return.
Mrs Sparsit eventually tracks down Mrs Pegler, the old woman who makes a mysterious annual visit to see Bounderby's house, and brings her to the house where she is revealed as Bounderby's mother. Far from having abandoned him to a life of hardship, she gave him a good upbringing and, when he became successful, allowed herself to be persuaded never to visit him. Bounderby is now publicly exposed as a ridiculous humbug.
On a Sunday outing, Rachael and Sissy find Stephen, who has fallen down an abandoned pit shaft while walking back to Coketown. He is rescued by villagers but, after professing his innocence and speaking to Rachael for the last time, he dies.
Bounderby punishes Mrs Sparsit for his humiliation by turning her out, but she doesn't particularly mind the dishonour.