Thomas Hardy

Summary

A ne'er-do-well exploits his gentle daughter's beauty for social advancement in this masterpiece of tragic fiction. Hardy's 1891 novel defied convention to focus on the rural lower class for a frank treatment of sexuality and religion. Then and now, his sympathetic portrait of a victim of Victorian hypocrisy offers compelling reading.

2) The return of the native

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An enduring tale of love, desire, and the universal longing both to leave one's home and to return to it, this novel is one of Hardy's greatest and most affecting works. Hardy's passionately drawn characters and his vivid rendering of their valiant but ultimately ineffective struggle in destiny's web result in a masterpiece of melancholy brilliance.

3) Far from the madding crowd

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'I hate to be thought men's property in that way'. Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her confident presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and when tragedy ensues,...

4) The mayor of Casterbridge

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Thomas Hardy's first masterpiece, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a scene of such heartlessness and cruelty that it still shocks readers today. A poor workman named Michael Henchard, in a fit of drunken rage, sells his wife and baby daughter to a stranger at a country fair. Stricken with remorse, Henchard forswears alcohol and works hard to become a prosperous businessman and the respected mayor of Casterbridge. But he cannot erase his past....

5) Jude the obscure

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Thomas Hardy (2nd June 1840 – 11th January 1928), celebrated poet and writer, was born in a modest thatched cottage near Dorchester in the West country, to a builder father. His mother came from a line of intelligent, lively and ambitious women so ensured her son had the best formal education available for their modest means although this ended when he was 16. He became a draughtsman specialising in the building of churches was able to give

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6) Wessex Tales

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Ironic short stories. "Stockdale, a lonely young fellow, who had for weeks felt a great craving for somebody on whom to throw away superfluous interest, and even tenderness, was not sorry to join her." A collection of six novellas, written in the 1880s and 1890s, about the true nature of nineteenth century marriage and its inherent restrictions.

7) Delphi Complete Works of Thomas Hardy (Illustrated)

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One of the few authors to distinguish himself with equal merit in poetry and novel writing, Thomas Hardy remains one of English literature's leading figures. For the first time in publishing history, this comprehensive eBook presents Hardy's complete works, with scarce texts, numerous illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 8)
Features:
* illustrated with countless images relating to Hardy and his...

8) The Thomas Hardy BBC Radio Drama Collection: 10 full-cast dramatisations including Tess of the d'Urbervilles & Far from the Madding Crowd

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A definitive, fully-dramatised collection of the best-known works of Thomas Hardy
Renowned novelist and poet Thomas Hardy is best known for his fatalistic, often tragic novels set in the 'realistic dream-country' of Wessex, in south and south-west England. Drawing on his own life, he created some of the most memorable characters and stories in Victorian literature - many of which are included here.
In five dramas taken from Radio

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9) Tess of the D'urbervilles: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

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The story of Tess Durbeyfield, the most tragic of Thomas Hardy's heroines. Adapted by Alan Sharp for BBC Radio 4.
John Durbeyfield (Keith Barron) learns that he is descended from the aristocratic Norman family of d'Urbervilles. He encourages his daughter, Tess (Claire Rushbrook), to befriend the family of Stoke d'Urbervilles where she meets Alec d'Urberville (Adam Godley).
Tess is ultimately seduced by Alec and the effects

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10) Far from the madding crowd

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Bathsheba Everdene is a willful, passionate girl who is never satisfied with anything less than a man's complete and helpless adoration. She captures the lives and loves of three very different men. Gabriel Oak is a sheep farmer who is captivated by her beauty and proposes marriage. William Boldwood is an older, prosperous man who had been a confirmed bachelor. Sergeant Frank Troy is a handsome, but reckless swordsman whose given to sudden fits of...

11) 50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die vol: 2

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Carroll, Lewis

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This 2nd volume contains the following 50 works, arranged alphabetically by authors' last names: Jerome, Jerome K.: Three Men in a Boat Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James: Ulysses Kingsley, Charles: The Water-Babies Kipling, Rudyard: Kim La Fayette, Madame de: The Princess of Clèves Laclos, Pierre Choderlos de: Dangerous Liaisons Lawrence, D. H.: Sons and Lovers Lawrence, D. H.: The Rainbow Le Fanu, Sheridan: In a...

12) The Ultimate Christmas Collection: 150+ authors & 400+ Christmas Novels, Stories, Poems, Carols & Legends

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Alcott, Louisa May

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