Author(s): Thomas Hardy

Classics

Thomas Hardy, never one to be conventional, took a very unconventional moral stance in this novel, which shocked Victorian readers. In doing so, he created one of the great romantic novels of all time, the story of a striking and tragic character who came to life for the reader as she did for the author: "I have not been able to put on paper all that she is or was, to me," Hardy wrote. With this work, he not only produced a harrowing novel of seduction and abandonment, he also created his most memorable heroine.