These exquisite and collectible editions are published as a part of Penguin’s beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series. Designed by the multi-award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, the series features editions that are bound in high-quality, colorful, and tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, the headmaster of Coketown’s school and a paragon of utilitarian achievement, is the most prominent figure in the town. By indoctrinating his students and his own family with information, he discourages their capacity for fantasy and wonder. As a direct result of this, his compliant daughter Louisa weds the heartless businessman and self-proclaimed “bully of humanity,” Mr. Bounderby and his defiant son Tom became involved in illegal activities such as gambling and robbing. And as their paths eventually crossed with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe and victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool, Gradgrind is ultimately compelled to acknowledge the significance of the human heart in an age dominated by materialism and technology.
