It was then that he started writing in his spare time. In 1862, he moved to London to work with a noted architect. At age sixteen, he left school to be an apprentice architect in nearby Dorchester. His father and grandfather were master masons, and it was expected that he would be one also but as a young man he excelled in his academic studies, learning Latin and Greek and studying poetry. Thomas Hardy was born in Higher Bockhampton, in Dorsetshire, England, on July 2, 1840.

The charge that he wrote about sexual relationships purely for sensationalism hurt Hardy to such a degree that he quit writing novels by 1895, although he continued to live another thirty-three years. Yet other critics objected to the sexual relationships in the novel. Others felt that his portrayal of the local characters was shallow and unconvincing. Some commentators praised Hardy's vivid descriptions of the geographical landscapes, especially those in the first chapter. When the book was published in 1878, it met with mixed reviews. The story focuses on the lives and loves of residents in the fictional county of Wessex, England, an area which was based on the rural area where Hardy was raised.

In fact, many critics assert that Eustacia Vye is one of the most memorable characters in English literature. But, The Return of the Native is unique in its pagan undertones - the first five books take place over a year and a day, starting on All Hallow's Eve, and hints of magic and witchcraft.The Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth novel and probably his best known. This work has all the well-known marks of Thomas Hardy: the Wessex landscape, a choice of lovers, a wedding gone wrong, a particularly shy 30-something man, and a woman with an independent spirit. Download cover art Download CD case insert The Return of the Native (version 2 dramatic reading)Ĭlym Yeobright returns home to Egdon Heath, a scattered collection of houses on the isolated Wessex moors, and is caught up in a 'love pentagon' which includes: his cousin, Thomasin Yeobright the shadowy inn-keeper, Damon Wildeve the controversial and romantic Eustacia Vye and the mysterious reddleman, Diggory Venn, whose skin is stained completely red from his work.

The return of the hardy