Hard times is a 1854 novel by English creator Charles Dickens.

Occurring in three sections named after a Biblical stanza, Planting, Procuring, and Accumulating, it parodies English society by dismantling the social and financial incongruities of its contemporary life.

The clever happens in an imaginary modern town in Northern England called Coketown, demonstrated somewhat on Manchester.

The novel is most popular for its cynicism with respect to the condition of worker's organizations and the double-dealing of the working people by entrepreneur elites.