Woodlanders (Wordsworth Classics)

Product Description

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

Review

The finest English novel. —
Arnold Bennett

From the Back Cover

In The Woodlanders, his favorite among his own novels, Thomas Hardy created a chain of characters linked by misunderstanding, infidelity and requited love.

About the Author

James Wood has been a full-time literary critic since leaving Cambridge University, first at
The Guardian in London and currently at
The New Republic. He is also the author of
The Broken Estate: Essays on Literature and Belief.