Hardy, Thomas 1840-1928

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
997 editions published between 1891 and 2011 in 33 languages and held by 7,047 libraries worldwide
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.

The return of the native by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
675 editions published between 1878 and 9999 in 19 languages and held by 6,461 libraries worldwide
Story of Egdon Heath and Eustacia Vye in late nineteenth century Wessex, England.

The mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
702 editions published between 1800 and 2011 in 30 languages and held by 5,808 libraries worldwide
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. His wife ultimately returns to offer Henchard the choice of redemption or a further descent into his own self-destructive nature. A dark, complex story, The Mayor of Casterbridge brims with invention, vitality, and even wit.

Far from the madding crowd by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
639 editions published between 1817 and 2011 in 25 languages and held by 5,680 libraries worldwide
Bathsheba Everdene is courted by three young men: an adventurer, a young farmer who becomes bailiff of the farm she inherits, and a neighboring farmer.

Jude the obscure by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
518 editions published between 1895 and 2011 in 23 languages and held by 5,479 libraries worldwide
"Marriage, the Church of England, and the British university system all come under criticism in a story about two cousins who love each other and want to improve their lot in life." "In this haunting love story, a couple who have each fled a previous marriage find love and fulfillment together, only to have tragedy overwhelm them." "Both having left earlier marriages, Jude Fawley and Sue Brideshead find happiness in their relationship. Ironically, when tragedy tests their union, it is Sue, the modern emancipated woman, who proves unequal to the challenge."

The woodlanders by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
308 editions published between 1887 and 2010 in 9 languages and held by 3,081 libraries worldwide
Set in the secluded forest community of Little Hintock, Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders inextricably links the dramatic English landscape with the story of a woman caught between two rivals of radically different social statures. Grace Melbury is promised to her longtime companion, Giles Winterborne, a local woodlander and a gentle, steadfast man. When her socially motivated father pressures her to wed the ambitious doctor Edred Fitzpiers, Grace's loyalties shift -- and her decision leads to tumultuous consequences. With its explorations of class and gender, lust and betrayal, The Woodlanders is one of Hardy's most vivid and powerful works.

A pair of blue eyes by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
218 editions published between 1870 and 2010 in 8 languages and held by 2,630 libraries worldwide
Elfride Swancourt is the daughter of the Rector of Endelstow, a remote sea-swept parish in Corwall based on St Juliot, where Hardy began A Pair of Blue Eyes during the beginning of his courtship of his first wife, Emma. Blue-eyed and high-spirited, Elfride has little experience of the world beyond, and becomes entangled with two men: the boyish architect, Stephen Smith, and the older literary man, Henry Knight. The former friends become rivals, and Elfride faces an agonizing choice. Written at a crucial time in Hardy's life, this novel expresses more directly than any of his novels the events and social forces that made him the writer he was. Elfride's dilemma mirrors the difficult decision Hardy himself had to make with this novel: to pursue the profession of architecture, where he was established, or literature, where he had yet to make his name.

Wessex tales by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
192 editions published between 1888 and 2010 in 4 languages and held by 2,420 libraries worldwide
Tales of life in the villages of Wessex, England.

Thomas Hardy the excluded and collaborative stories by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
84 editions published between 1928 and 2009 in 4 languages and held by 1,858 libraries worldwide
In this series a contemporary poet selects and introduces another poet of a different generation whom they have particularly admired. This selection of Thomas Hardy poems are selected by Tom Paulin.

The trumpet-major by Thomas Hardy ( Book )
260 editions published between 1880 and 2010 in 5 languages and held by 1,797 libraries worldwide
Hardy distrusted the application of nineteenth-century empiricism to history because he felt it marginalized important human elements. In The Trumpet Major, the tale of a woman courted by three competing suitors during the Napoleonic wars, he explores the subversive effects of ordinary human Hardy distrusted the application of nineteenth-century empiricism to history because he felt it marginalized important human elements.