First published in 1854,&quot;Hard Times&quot;, the shortest of Charles Dickens&rsquo;s full-length novels but one of his best, is set in the fictitious Victorian-England city of Coketown, where facts are the rule and all fancy is to be stamped out.<br /><br />The plot centres around the men and women of the town, some of whom are beaten down by the city&rsquo;s utilitarian ideals and some of whom manage to rise above it. The novel was a scathing attack on then-current ideas of utilitarianism, which Dickens viewed as a selfish and at times oppressive philosophy. Perhaps the novel&rsquo;s best features are its clever, ironic narration and the larger-than-life characters that push the plot forward, such as the upper-class banker and hypocritical braggart, Josiah Bounderby, and the fact-driven schoolmaster, Thomas Gradgrind.