Return of the Native
I've always regarded this novel as Hardy's finest work. The only reason I prefer Under the Greenwood Tree is that the latter is far more fun. This is a lot more serious.
Eustacia Vye is an attractive woman, living with her grandfather, on the wastes of Egdon Heath. She'd much rather be living amidst the heady delights of Paris - or, at least, Budmouth (Weymouth). She's having an on-off romance with Damon Wildeve, which is somewhat blighted by his repeated attempts to marry Thomasin Yeobright. When Clym Yeobright, Thomasin's cousin, returns from Paris, it sets off a chain of events where he marries Eustacia, Damon marries Thomasin, and then the trouble starts.
The novel has something almost unheard of - apart from a couple of tragic deaths it has a happy ending. But Hardy puts in a footnote that he doesn't actually agree with the happy ending himself, and explains how he really wanted it to end!
In many ways this novel is more like a painting
than a work of art. "Egdon Heath" is the heath that starts at
Hardy's house and used to stretch all the way to Bournemouth. He captures
the atmosphere of the place, the roll of the heavens around it, the inhabitants
recreating activities that previous occupants of the heath carried out thousands
of years earlier. The previous generations are never far from the surface
in this novel.
It also has some of Hardy's best yokels. Grandfer Cantle and his useless
son Christian are two of the best, but there are plenty of others, not least
Susan Nunsuch and her residual beliefs in witchcraft.
Wessex locations: