Hard Times (novel) Gradgrind - a younger sister of Tom and Louisa Gradgrind who spends a lot of time with Sissy Jupe. She is cheerful, affectionate and despite looking similar to Louisa, in personality she is opposite. Dickens wished to educate readers about the working conditions of some of the factories in the industrial towns of Manchester, and Preston, to "strike the heaviest blow in my power", and as well to confront the assumption that prosperity runs parallel to morality. This notion he systematically deconstructed in through his portrayal of the moral monsters, Mr. Bounderby and James Harthouse. Dickens also believed in the
Francis Dickens twelve years in Canada, only "edited" by Nicol. It is still frequently mistaken for non-fiction. Frank Dickens also appears in the science fiction novel that deals with the NWMP in an alternative history, "The Apparition Trail" (2004) by Lisa Smedman. In the novels "The Winnipeg Wolf" and "The Search for Spade" belonging to the "Inspector Bucket NWMP" series by Jeremy Allen the leading character, Francis Bucket, is based on Francis Dickens. He is played by Joe Prospero in the TV mini-series "". In 2007 a Fringe festival play called "Dickens of the Mounted" based on Nicol's novel toured several Canadian