Product Description

With an Introduction and Notes by Phillip Mallett, Senior Lecturer in English, University of St Andrews

Educated beyond her station, Grace Melbury returns to the woodland village of little Hintock and cannot marry her intended, Giles Winterborne. Her alternative choice proves disastrous, and in a moving tale that has vibrant characters, many humorous moments and genuine pathos coupled with tragic irony, Hardy eschews a happy ending. With characteristic derision, he exposes the cruel indifference of the archaic legal system off his day, and shows the tragic consequences of untimely adherence to futile social and religious proprieties.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73882 in Books
• Published on: 1996-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .68" h x 4.97" w x 7.81" l, .43 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review

“Hardy’s novels are full of love for places and pity for people. If they are to be read aloud, then these things must be felt within the voice of the reader. I find them in Rufus Sewell’s voice… Sewell speaks to the inner ear and with the characters’
talk heard as part of the story; their speech is differentiated, but only as far as is necessary and natural.”
Gramophone 1/1/97

From the Back Cover

Grace Melbury, the only daughter of a timber-merchant, arrives home in Little Hintock after an expensive education and her father looks to find a husband for her. There are two rivals for her hand: Giles Winterborne, a good-hearted yeoman and her childhood sweetheart, and Edred Fitzpiers, an ambitious young doctor of good family. Fitzpiers wins her, but the mismatch brings unhappiness not just to the young couple, but to a wider circle in the woodland community.

'The Woodlanders' is one of Hardy’s most powerful works and the one he liked best. With brooding sexual undertones, it addresses themes about which the author held strong views – the laws of divorce, the inequalities of society, and the uncertainty of land tenure.

About the Author
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