This text is a revised edition of Thomas Hardy's classic tale. When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her cousin Alec proves to be her downfall.

Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community.

Far from the Madding Crowd was the first of Hardy's novels to give the name of Wessex to the landscape of the south-west of England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity. The story of the wooing of Bathsheba Everdene by three suitors is here presented in a critical text with a new introduction, bibliography and chronology.

York Notes Advanced offer a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced intorduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.

Jude Fawley's ambitions to go to university are thwarted by class prejudice and his entrapment in a loveless marriage. His doomed love affair with his unconventional cousin has tragic consequences. Hardy's last, and most controversial novel, this revised edition has the first truly critical text, a new chronology and bibliography, and substantially revised notes.

The new graded readers series of original fiction, adapted fiction and factbooks especially written for teenagers.

The new graded readers series of original fiction, adapted fiction and factbooks especially written for teenagers.

Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich 'relatives', the D'Urbervilles, in hope that they might help her alleviate her own family's poverty. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal.

While the Reverend Maybold creates a furore among the village's musicians with his decision to abolish the church's traditional 'string choir' and replace it with a modern mechanical organ, the new schoolteacher, Fancy Day, causes an upheaval of a more romantic nature, winning the hearts of 3 men - a local farmer, a church musician and Maybold.

This work comprises a collection of the poetic works of Thomas Hardy. Hardy's poetry spanned over 50 years from the last half of the 19th century to the period after World War I, and ranges from pessimistic works to those which were witty and fanciful.

Both major novelist and major poet, with a distinctive off-beat and intensely personal style, Hardy is a modern poet born out of his time. This is a collection of some of his finest works.

Although best remembered for his novels, Thomas Hardy thought of himself as a poet forced by circumstance to write fiction for a living. This selection of nearly two hundred poems includes pieces, such as During Wind and Rain , Channel Firing , Afterwards , The Darkling Thrush , The Oxen , To Lizbie Browne , and others.

Full of analysis and interpretation, historical background, discussions and commentaries, York Notes will help you get right to the heart of the text you're studying, whether it's poetry, a play or a novel.

In drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby at a country fair. Over the following years, he establishes himself as a pillar of society but his shameful secret is never to leave him. Featuring one of Hardy's most memorable characters, the novel portrays Victorian country life.

The phrase 'life's little ironies' is now proverbial, but it was coined by Hardy as the title for this, his third volume of short stories. While the tales and sketches reflect many of the strengths and themes of the great novels, they are powerful works in their own right. Unified by his quintessential irony, strong visual sense, and engaging characters, they deal with the tragic and the humorous,

The darkly passionate short stories of Thomas Hardy are compelling explorations of love, social class, superstition and legend. This collection contains many of his finest and most representative, and includes The Withered Arm , an eerie depiction of arcane witchcraft in nineteenth-century England; Barbara of the House of Grebe , in which a beautiful man s tragic disfigurement by fire is savagel

The darkly passionate short stories of Thomas Hardy are compelling explorations of love, social class, superstition and legend. This collection contains many of his finest and most representative, and includes The Withered Arm', an eerie depiction of arcane witchcraft in nineteenth-century England; Barbara of the House of Grebe', in which a beautiful man's tragic disfigurement by fire is savagely

'She looked absolutely pure. Nature, in her fantastic trickery, had set such a seal of maidenhood upon Tess's countenance that he gazed at her with a stupefied air: Tess- say it is not true! No, it is not true! ' Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces

Eustacia Vye criss-crosses the wild Egdon Heath, eager to experience life to the full in her quest for 'music, poetry, passion, war'. She marries Clym Yeobright, native of the heath, but his idealism frustrates her romantic ambitions and her discontent draws others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness.