The Woodlanders is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was published in 1887. The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock, and concerns the efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterborne, to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury. Although they have been informally betrothed for some time, her father has made financial sacrifices to give his adored only child a superior education and no longer considers Giles good enough for her.
Added by: arcadius | Karma: 2802.10 | Fiction literature | 15 February 2010
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Thomas Hardy is one of the sacred figures in English writing, a great poet and a novelist. His life was also extraordinary: from the poverty of rural Dorset he went on to become the Grand Old Man of English life and letters, his last resting place in Westminster Abbey. Thomas Hardy's first love was always poetry. It was not until 1898, when he was 58 years old, having already established his reputation with 14 novels and over 40 short stories, that his first book of poetry, "Wessex Poems" was published. For the final 30 years of his life he abandoned fiction and devoted himself entirely to poetry.
Added by: arcadius | Karma: 2802.10 | Fiction literature | 13 February 2010
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Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy
Desperate Remedies is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published anonymously by Tinsley Brothers in 1871. Described by Hardy as a tale of "mystery, entanglement, surprise and moral obliquity", his first published novel violated the literary decorum of its day with blackmail, murder, and romance. It relates the story of Cytherea, a maid to the eccentric arch-intriguer Miss Aldclyffe, and the man she loves, Edward Springrove. Upon discovering that Edward is already engaged, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's fascinating, manipulative steward, Manston.
Added by: arcadius | Karma: 2802.10 | Fiction literature | 13 February 2010
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The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy
Ethelberta was raised in humble circumstances but, through her work as a governess, married well at the age of eighteen. Her husband died two weeks after the wedding and, now twenty-one, Ethelberta lives with her mother-in-law, Lady Petherwin. In the three years that have elapsed since the deaths of both her husband and father-in-law, Ethelberta has been treated to foreign travel and further privilege by her benefactress, but restricted from seeing her poor family.
