Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowdis perhaps the most pastoral of Hardy’s Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love.

Jude the Obscure

Jude Fawley is a rural stone mason with intellectual aspirations. Frustrated by poverty and the indifference of the academic institutions at the University of Christminster, his only chance of fulfilment seems to lie in his relationship with his unconventional cousin, Sue Bridehead. But life as social outcasts proves undermining, and when tragedy occurs, Sue has no resilience and Jude is left in despair.

A Pair of Blue Eyes

A Pair of Blue Eyes,though early in the sequence of Hardy’s novels, is lively and gripping. Its dramatic cliff-hanging episode, for example, is at once tense, ironic, feministic and erotic.

Under the Greenwood Tree

Under the Greenwood Treeis Hardy’s most bright, confident and optimistic novel. This delightful portrayal of a picturesque rural society, tinged with gentle humour and quiet irony, established Hardy as a writer.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Set in Hardy’s Wessex,Tessis a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, A Pure Woman, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic.

The Mayor of Casterbridge

None of the great Victorian novels is more vivid and readable thanThe Mayor of Casterbridge. Set in the heart of Hardy’s Wessex, the ‘partly real, partly dream country’ he founded on his native Dorset, it charts the rise and self-induced downfall of a single ‘man of character’.

The Return of the Native

The Return of the Nativeis widely recognised as the most representative of Hardy’s Wessex novels. He evokes the dismal presence and menacing beauty of Egdon Heath – reaching out to touch the lives and fate of all who dwell on it. The central figure is Clym Yeobright, the returning native and the story tells of his love for the beautiful but capricious Eustacia Vye.