The Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel. It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. The novel is set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars;[1] the town was then anxious about the possibility...

Overview: This story of a proud rural beauty and the three men who court her is the novel that first made Thomas Hardy famous. Despite the violent ends of several of its major characters, Far from the Madding Crowd is the sunniest and least brooding of Hardy's great novels. The strong-minded Bathsheba Everdene-and the devoted shepherd, obsessed farmer, and dashing soldier who vie for her favor-move through a beautifully realized late nineteenth-century...

Set in the magical Wessex landscape so familiar from Thomas Hardy's early work, Tess of the D'Urbervilles is unique among his great novels for the intense feeling that he lavished upon his heroine, Tess, a pure woman betrayed by love. Hardy poured all of his profound empathy for both humanity and the rhythms of natural life into this story of her beauty, goodness, and tragic fate. In so doing, he created a character who, like Emma Bovary and Anna...

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a harrowing critique of social class and the powerlessness of women. Tess, a beautiful young woman, is pushed on her rich "relatives" by her grasping father. When the young Lord does with her as he likes, Tess's whole life falls into ruins from which she attempts to free herself. The novel met with mixed reviews upon publication, because it challenged the precepts of society. It is now considered a classic of

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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.

Uncertain of her future but unwilling to sacrifice her freedom, Bathsheba rejects the proposal of Gabriel Oak only to become his employer. Still in love, Gabriel can only watch as Bathsheba flirts with her neighbor, Mr. Boldwood unleashing a passionate obsession within the reserved Boldwood. Both men forsake their hearts, however, upon the arrival of the dashing soldier Frank Troy. Despite being in love with another woman himself, Troy sees a challenge...

An exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge. With its earthy visual textures it is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.