Hard Cash (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Historical ThrillerBy Charles Reade
Length29h 51m
About this audiobook
Charles Reade's Hard Cash is a vigorous Victorian sensation novel that fuses romance, financial intrigue, maritime adventure, and legal exposé. Centered on the Dodd and Hardie families, the novel traces the moral consequences of stolen money and the terrifying ease with which inconvenient persons could be declared insane. Reade's prose is energetic, theatrical, and insistently evidentiary, combining melodrama with documentary realism. Published in the 1860s, it belongs to the age of reform fiction, standing beside works that used popular narrative to attack institutional abuses. Reade was a novelist and dramatist trained in law and shaped by the reformist temper of mid-nineteenth-century Britain. Educated at Oxford and called to the bar, he brought to fiction a lawyerly appetite for cases, documents, and public controversy. His known habit of compiling notebooks of facts is evident here: Hard Cash grew from contemporary debates about wrongful confinement and private madhouses, reflecting his conviction that fiction could expose injustice more forcefully than pamphleteering alone. This book is highly recommended to readers interested in Victorian social criticism, sensation fiction, and the history of mental health law. Its plot is gripping, but its deeper value lies in its moral urgency: Reade compels readers to ask how respectability, money, and medical authority can conspire against truth.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics, Mystery and Thriller
Length29 hrs 51 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMay 11, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
26CHAPTER XX
2Introduction
27CHAPTER XXI
3Synopsis
28CHAPTER XXII
4Historical Context
29CHAPTER XXIII
5PREFACE
30CHAPTER XXIV
Show all chaptersShow less
6PROLOGUE
31CHAPTER XXV
7CHAPTER I
32CHAPTER XXVI
8CHAPTER II
33CHAPTER XXVII
9CHAPTER III
34CHAPTER XXVIII
10CHAPTER IV
35CHAPTER XXIX
11CHAPTER V
36CHAPTER XXX
12CHAPTER VI
37CHAPTER XXXI
13CHAPTER VII
38CHAPTER XXXII
14CHAPTER VIII
39CHAPTER XXXIII
15CHAPTER IX
40CHAPTER XXXIV
16CHAPTER X
41CHAPTER XXXV
17CHAPTER XI
42CHAPTER XXXVI
18CHAPTER XII
43CHAPTER XXXVII
19CHAPTER XIII
44CHAPTER XXXVIII
20CHAPTER XIV
45CHAPTER XXXIX
21CHAPTER XV
46CHAPTER XL
22CHAPTER XVI
47CHAPTER XLI
23CHAPTER XVII
48CHAPTER XLI
24CHAPTER XVIII
49CHAPTER XLII
25CHAPTER XIX
50CHAPTER XLIII
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