<div>Thomas Hardy&rsquo;s classic tale of a woman brave enough to defy convention: Now a major motion picture starring Carey Mulligan Spirited, impulsive, and beautiful, Bathsheba Everdene arrives in Wessex to live with her aunt. She strikes up a friendship with a neighbor, Gabriel Oak, and even saves the young shepherd&rsquo;s life. But when he responds by asking for her hand in marriage, she refuses. She cannot sacrifice her independence for a man she does not love. Years later, misfortune has bankrupted Gabriel, while Bathsheba has inherited her uncle&rsquo;s estate and is now a wealthy woman. She hires Gabriel as a shepherd but is interested in William Boldwood, a prosperous farmer whose reticence inspires her to playfully send him a valentine. William, like Gabriel before him, quickly falls in love with Bathsheba and proposes. But it is the dashing Sergeant Francis Troy who finally wins her heart. Despite the warnings of her first two suitors, Bathsheba accepts his proposal&mdash;a decision that brings long-buried secrets to the fore and leaves everything for which she has fought so hard hanging in the balance. Published a century and a half ago, Far from the Madding Crowd was Thomas Hardy&rsquo;s first major success and introduced the themes he would continue to explore for the rest of his life. A love story wrapped in the cloak of tragedy, it is widely considered to be one of the finest novels of the nineteenth century. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Far from the Madding Crowd

<div>Thomas Hardy&rsquo;s final novel: A passionate and tragic story of the follies of Victorian England&rsquo;s most rigid institutions: class, marriage, and higher education Growing up in southern England, Jude Fawley dreams of one day transcending his country life and becoming a scholar at Christminster&rsquo;s most prestigious college. It&rsquo;s the driving focus of his young life, leading him to rigorous study of classical Greek and Latin after spending long days working as a stonemason. But everything changes when Jude meets Arabella Donn, a calculating local girl who ensnares him in marriage. As his dreams of Christminster recede into the background, Jude finds himself trapped in one unhappy marriage while the woman her loves, his free-thinking cousin Sue Bridehead, is trapped in another. Though Jude and Sue are able to escape their first spouses, their new life together proves to be no simpler. With two young children born out of wedlock, Jude and Sue&rsquo;s unconventional relationship is burdened by the judgments of society. But it isn&rsquo;t until the unexpected arrival of Jude&rsquo;s first son, born of his troubled relationship with Arabella, that the accumulation of Jude&rsquo;s misfortunes reaches its final, shattering crescendo. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices. </div>

Jude the Obscure

<div>A young woman struggles against tradition and circumstance in this novel of love, class, and deceit from the author of Far from the Madding Crowd. Convinced that his impoverished family has noble connections, John Durbeyfield implores his daughter, Tess, to visit the wealthy Mrs. D&rsquo;Urberville and claim kin. Reluctantly, Tess agrees, but when she falls prey to the manipulations of Alec D&rsquo;Urberville, the widow&rsquo;s dissolute son, her search for love and happiness takes a disastrous turn. An earnest suitor named Angel Clare offers hope for salvation, but Tess must decide whether to confess her sins to the minister&rsquo;s son&mdash;or bury them forever. First published in 1891, Tess of the D&rsquo;Urbervilles scandalized Victorian readers with its frank depictions of female sexuality and its impassioned criticism of social conventions. Now widely recognized as Thomas Hardy&rsquo;s masterpiece, this tragic story of virtue destroyed is one of the most moving and unforgettable novels in English literature. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

<div>The great Victorian novel of love, ambition, and shattered illusions set in Hardy&rsquo;s beloved, fictional English village of Egdon Heath. Eustacia Vye is as wild and beautiful as the landscape that surrounds her grandfather&rsquo;s house on Egdon Heath. Dark-haired, tempestuous, and haughty, she yearns to escape her rural corner of England, and believes that by marrying Clym Yeobright, a native of the heath just returned from Paris, she will find the romance and adventure her heart craves. But Clym&rsquo;s interests run in the opposite direction&mdash;toward comfort, community, and tradition&mdash;and the young couple&rsquo;s happy union soon turns miserable. When a former suitor pays a fateful visit, Eustacia must decide whether to break her vows to Clym or forego her exotic dreams forever. One of Thomas Hardy&rsquo;s most beloved novels, The Return of the Native brilliantly evokes the dangerous allure of romantic fantasies. Rich in mythological allusions yet grounded in the hard realities of nineteenth-century village life, it is one of the most heartbreaking tragedies ever told. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

The Return of the Native

<div>A captivating story of love and regret from the author of Tess of the D&rsquo;Urbervilles and The Return of the Native Young farm worker Michael Henchard arrives in Casterbridge, Wessex, with his wife and child, looking for a job. Instead, he finds rum. At the town fair, Henchard quarrels with his wife and drunkenly auctions her and his daughter to the assembled crowd. He sells his family to a sailor for five guineas, a monstrous crime that marks him for a lifetime of guilt and pain. The next morning, Henchard swears off drink. Eighteen years later, he is the wealthy&mdash;and sober&mdash;mayor of Casterbridge, his terrible secret buried deep in the past. But when Henchard falls in love with a young woman on a trip to the island of Jersey, his inability to marry her threatens to destroy her reputation. The sudden return of his wife and daughter presents Henchard with a chance to finally make things right&mdash;or doom himself forever. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices. </div>

The Mayor of Casterbridge

<div>These heart-soaring tales of romance and tragedy are widely considered four of the finest novels in English literature. Wuthering Heights is an immortal story of love and obsession on the stormy Yorkshire moors. The fate of the Earnshaw family is forever changed when they adopt a dark-skinned orphan boy named Heathcliff. As the years pass, Heathcliff and young Catherine Earnshaw fall deeply in love, but their passion cannot survive the pressures of society and the black force of jealousy. Driven away by a broken heart, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights only to return years later, bent on the cruelest kind of revenge. Pride and Prejudice is a classic comedy of manners and an enduring romance. In a remote Hertfordshire village, Jane Bennet attracts the attentions of a young gentleman named Charles Bingley, but his good friend Mr. Darcy disapproves of the match. Elizabeth Bennet, always eager to defend her sweet-natured sister, detests the prideful Mr. Darcy, even when he asks for her hand in marriage. But when a chance encounter reunites the combative couple, Elizabeth realizes that her prejudices have been standing in the way of her heart&rsquo;s true desire. Far from the Madding Crowd is a love story wrapped in the cloak of tragedy. Shortly after the spirited, impulsive, and beautiful Bathsheba Everdene arrives in Wessex, she saves the life of a young shepherd. When he asks for her hand in marriage, Bathsheba refuses; she cannot sacrifice her independence for a man she does not love. Years later and now a wealthy woman, Bathsheba falls for a dashing sergeant and makes a fateful decision that brings long-buried secrets to the fore. Jane Eyre shines a brilliant light into the dark corners of Victorian society. Born to a good family but with no wealth of her own, Jane Eyre lives first with her uncle and then in a punitive boarding school for girls. When she becomes governess of Thornfield Hall, the young orphan feels at home for the first time in her life. She soon falls in love with Edward Rochester, master of the house, but just when it seems her luck has finally changed, Jane discovers the secret of the attic&mdash;a terrible revelation that threatens to destroy her dreams of happiness forever. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Classic British Love Stories

<div>From the author of The Mayor of Casterbridge, this novel follows a woman torn between a wealthy, unfaithful husband and the humble woodsman she truly loves.As a young woman in a small village, Grace Melbury expects to one day marry her sweetheart, Giles. But her ambitious father has decided that her upbringing would be wasted on such a man, and pressures her to wed the doctor Fitzpiers instead. It soon becomes clear that Fitzpiers has little more to offer Grace than social status. His dalliances with other women lead to the couple&rsquo;s gradual estrangement, and even Grace&rsquo;s father recognizes him as a scoundrel. But Grace&rsquo;s dream of reuniting with her childhood beau may be doomed to failure in this heartrending story of true love denied.</div>

The Woodlanders

<div>Three classics of the Victorian era from the great novelist. This volume includes three iconic novels by the author known for chronicling nineteenth-century English society. Far from the Madding Crowd: A tale of love, tragedy, and a woman brave enough to defy convention. Jude the Obscure: A young stonemason who had aspired to a career in academia finds himself trapped in an unhappy marriage in this novel of passion and heartbreak. The Mayor of Casterbridge: A wealthy mayor harbors a terrible secret in this story of addiction, love, and regret.</div>

The Thomas Hardy Collection Volume One

<div>Three novels of love, ambition, and nineteenth-century English society. This volume includes three of the greatest works by the iconic Victorian novelist. The Return of the Native: Eustacia Vye yearns to escape the village of Egdon Heath, but her marriage to a well-traveled man doesn&rsquo;t bring the adventure she craves, in this novel that brilliantly evokes the dangerous allure of romantic fantasies. Tess of the D&rsquo;Urbervilles: A young woman struggles against tradition and circumstance in this story of love, class, and deceit. The Woodlanders: Grace Melbury is torn between a wealthy, unfaithful husband and the humble woodsman she truly loves in this novel that examines the perils of social ambition.</div>

Thomas Hardy

Books By Thomas Hardy (9 Books)