Far from the Madding Crowd (Penguin Clothbound Classics)

Hardy, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0141393386 ISBN 13: 9780141393384

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2013

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design

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: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of swiftpassion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.

Review:

"Vital, passionate, spirited - from the moment Bathsheba appears she is beguiling. You can denounce her faults - she's selfish and capricious - but it's hard not to admire her determined independence" (Di Speirs (executive producer of readings at the BBC) Independent)

"Hardy's warmest and most enchanting novel" (Daily Express)

"Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd is the most romantic book I have ever read. I love the line where he says: "Whenever you look up, there I shall be - and whenever I look up there will be you." It is very simple and understated, but also incredibly romantic" (Liz Jensen Independent)

"Hardy expounds on his favourite themes: misunderstandings, missed opportunities, unrequited love and fatal omissions" (Sunday Times)

"The age-old dilemma - mind-blowing passion versus a man who knows how to put up shelves" (Independent)

Book Description:

Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14–18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction.