Real Reads -- the classics retold and beautifully illustrated. Real Reads are a new and exciting way of presenting our literary heritage to a new audience: bright young primary readers, children who have seen the films and now want the books, teenagers who want to read the classics but aren't yet ready for the original, grown-up readers who want a quick fix of their favourite classical author, less confident readers who don't want to be left out of real books, learners of English who want to explore the classics everyone talks about. For more information, please visit RealReads.co.uk. Louisa is the practical daughter of a powerful industrialist. Sissy is the imaginative daughter of a clown. What will happen when two such different lives collide? A disappearing father,an unhappy marriage,a handsome suitor and a bank robbery all bring challenges to Louisa's life. Will she be able to control her powerful emotions, or will they lead her to ruin? Set amongst the noisy, dangerous factories of a northern industrial town, where the workers struggle to survive, Hard Times explores the power that people can have over others, and the suffering that is caused when human emotions are ignored.