Thomas Hardy

The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies...

Jude the Obscure, the semi-autobiographical final novel from Thomas Hardy explores notions of surprising candor; within the eponymous protagonist lies the tragic truth of failed ambitions and relationships. In a fierce exploration of the darkness of love and the intellect, this is one of the great tragic novels of English literature. Jude Fawley, an earnest boy from a rural English village, dreams of a life of academia despite his working-class background....

Thomas Hardy's "The Woodlanders" was first published serially in 1887. The tale takes place in the woodland village of Little Hintock and is centers around the romantic dramas of its inhabitants. The story begins with Giles Winterborne, an honest woodsman, who wishes to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury. While the two have been informally betrothed to each other since they were young, Grace gains an education through her father's persistent...

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...

A young woman, Cytherea Graye, is forced by poverty to accept a post as lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe, the woman whom her father had loved but had been unable to marry. Cytherea loves a young architect, Edward Springrove, but Miss Adclyffe's machinations, the discovery that Edward is already engaged to a woman whom he does not love, and the urgent need to support a sick brother drive Cytherea to accept the hand of Aeneas Manston, Miss...

Whether you're a long-time fan of Thomas Hardy's works or a first-time reader who is curious about the author of such masterpieces as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far From the Madding Crowd, this collection of short stories offers a gratifying introduction to the renowned British naturalist's literary talent. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing...

Ethelberta Petherwin, aka Berta Chickerel, moves with ease between her multiple identities, cleverly managing a brilliant career as a society poet in London. Her family act as her servants to help her conque the male-dominated literary world. Beautiful, clever, and rational, she soon attracts four very persistent suitors: Mr. Julian, Mr. Neigh, Mr. Ladywell, and Lord Mountclere.

In the sphere of poets like Swift, Meredith and Kipling, Thomas Hardy is today becoming recognized as one of the greatest English poets of this century. As a young man with interests in journalism, art, and architecture, Hardy achieved greatness in the fiction genre early on, writing novels for a living until his mid-fifties. He then abandoned fiction entirely in order to devote himself to his true passion-poetry. This ample selection of poems demonstrates...

Set in the Isle of Slingers modelled on the Isle of Portland the novel continues to explore Hardy's favourite themes of relationships, exploration of human nature and human nature. The story follows Jocelyn Pierston, a celebrated sculptor who tries to create an image of his ideal woman in stone and attempting to find her in the flesh.

In the quaint countryside of 19th-century England, a humble milkmaid named Tess Durbeyfield embarks on a tumultuous journey of love, loss, and societal constraints. As she navigates the complexities of her heart and the rigid expectations of her time, Tess's romantic adventures unfold with both passion and heartbreak. From the forbidden desires of her first love to the tragic consequences of her second, Hardy's masterpiece paints a poignant and unforgettable...