Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

I frequently found myself bookmarking chapters on the audio so that when I got home I could look up the printed version and immerse myself all over again. This book is pure joy and so many of Hardy’s passages are simply breathtaking. The novel is set in Thomas Hardy's Wessex in rural southwest England, as had been his earlier Under the Greenwood Tree. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. I also loved her narration of the rural scenes with the farmworkers which could have been patronising, but were not. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) is Thomas Hardy 's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It takes a particular skill to get the voices of the opposite sex right and the narrator achieves this extremely well, conveying very successfully the variations in character between Bathsheba’s suitors, Gabriel Oak, Farmer Boldwood and Sergeant Troy. When Thomas Hardy first published Far from the Madding Crowd in 1874, he hadnt yet become the really big deal hed go on to be. I experienced Far From the Madding Crowd on audio this time, a 2020 release narrated by Olivia Vinall, which was brilliant. Hardy might even be considered an early feminist writer. They are even allowed to have sex! Poor, unfortunate Fanny Robin, pregnant out of wedlock by Sergeant Troy, dies penniless in childbirth. Hardy also allows his female characters to feel lust, passion and to follow through on their desires. Young, spirited, independent and ambitious, Hardy puts her in a position of power (running a business, a thriving farm) which would have been rare for women at the time. I adore the Roman Polanski film adaptation from 1980, starring Nastassja Kinski which is so loyal to the book.īathsheba Everdene is one of English literature’s iconic female characters.

My favourite is Jude the Obscure, or at least it used to, but perhaps my feelings would be different now, closely followed by Tess of the D’Urbervilles, which I studied at school (a ‘first love’ if you like). Although it is not my “favourite” Hardy novel, it definitely makes my top five. I was delighted when my book club decided we’d read Far From the Madding Crowd.

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy