{"title":"Thomas Hardy Books","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"far-from-the-madding-crowd","title":"Far From The Madding Crowd By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003eBathsheba Everdene is a headstrong young woman who attracts the attentions of a succession of ill-matched suitors: a quiet sheep farmer, a handsome soldier and an older, wealthy landowner. As the men vie for her affections, she struggles to retain her independence of spirit in the face of their declarations.\u003cbr\u003eIntroducing readers to the fictional county of Wessex, Thomas Hardy’s fourth work of fiction was one of his greatest triumphs, both commercially and critically. Its tale of\u003cbr\u003epassion, jealousy and unrequited love is now regarded as one of the finest novels of the nineteenth century, and one of the greatest love stories of all time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548710871422,"sku":"NW9781847496300","price":8.53,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781847496300.jpg?v=1783226655"},{"product_id":"selected-poems-thomas-hardy","title":"Selected Poems Thomas Hardy By Hardy, Thomas","description":"Although best remembered today for his novels, Thomas Hardy thought of himself as a poet forced by circumstance to write fiction for a living. This generous selection of nearly two hundred poems includes such familiar pieces as \"During Wind and Rain,\" \"Channel Firing,\" \"Afterwards,\" \"The Darkling Thrush,\" and \"The Oxen,\" but it will also acquaint readers with many less-celebrated works, among them \"To Lizbie Browne,\" \"After the Last Breath,\" \"My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound,\" \"The Haunter,\" \"Old Furniture,\" \"A Procession of Dead Days,\" \"The Harbour Bridge,\" \"At a Country Fair,\" \"Last Love-Word,\" \"Waiting Both,\" and \"Proud Songsters.\" With an introduction and annotations by Robert Mezey, this Penguin Classics edition will help readers to recognize Hardy as one of the greatest English poets of this century.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548756779390,"sku":"NW9780140433418","price":11.67,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140433418.jpg?v=1783190566"},{"product_id":"laodicean","title":"Laodicean By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe daughter of a wealthy railway magnate, Paula Power inherits De Stancy Castle, an ancient castle in need of modernization. She commissions George Somerset, a young architect, to undertake the work. Somerset falls in love with Paula but she, the Laodicean of the title, is torn between his admiration and that of Captain De Stancy, whose old-world romanticism contrasts with Somerset''s forward-looking attitude. \u003cbr\u003ePaula''s vacillation, however, is not only romantic. Her ambiguity regarding religion, politics and social progress is a reflection of the author''s own. This new Penguin Classics edition of Hardy''s text contains an introduction and notes that illuminate and clarify these themes, and draws parallels between the text and the author''s life and views.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548798001534,"sku":"NW9780140435061","price":10.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435061.jpg?v=1783200469"},{"product_id":"desperate-remedies","title":"Desperate Remedies By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003eHardy described Desperate Remedies as a tale of ''mystery, entanglement, surprise and moral obliquity''.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCytherea has taken a position as lady''s maid to the eccentric arch-intriguer Miss Aldclyffe. On discovering that the man she loves, Edward Springrove, is already engaged to his cousin, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe''s fascinating, manipulative steward Manston. \u003cbr\u003eBlackmail, murder and romance are among the ingredients of Hardy''s first published novel, and in it he draws blithely on the ''sensation novel'' perfected by Wilkie Collins. Several perceptive critics praised the author as a novelist with a future when Desperate Remedies appeared anonymously in 1871. In its depiction of country life and insight into psychology and sexuality it already bears the unmistakable imprint of Hardy''s genius.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548798034302,"sku":"NW9780140435238","price":11.67,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435238.jpg?v=1783173917"},{"product_id":"pair-of-blue-eyes","title":"Pair Of Blue Eyes By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Elfrise Swanston meets Stephen Smith she is attracted to his handsome face, gentle bearing and the sense of mystery which surrounds him.  Although distressed to find that the mystery consists only in the humbleness of his origins, she  remains true to their youthful vows.  But societal pressures, and the advent of the superior Henry Knight, eventually displace her affections.  Knight, however, proves to be an uncompromising moralist who, obsessed with fears about Elfride''s sexual past, destroys her happiness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWriting of the struggle between classes and sexes, Hardy drew heavily on his own relationships, and in the introduction, Pamela Dalziel discovers fascinating parallels between Hardy''s life and his art.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548798099838,"sku":"NW9780140435290","price":10.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435290.jpg?v=1785111654"},{"product_id":"woodlanders","title":"Woodlanders By Hardy, Thomas","description":"When country-girl Grace Melbury returns home from her middle-class school she feels she has risen above her suitor, the simple woodsman Giles Winterborne. Though marriage had been discussed between her and Giles, Grace finds herself captivated by Dr Edred Fitzpiers, a sophisticated newcomer to the area - a relationship that is encouraged by her socially ambitious father. Hardy''s novel of betrayal, disillusionment and moral compromise depicts a secluded community coming to terms with the disastrous impact of outside influences. And in his portrayal of Giles Winterborne, Hardy shows a man who responds deeply to the forces of the natural world, thought they ultimately betray him.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548798198142,"sku":"NW9780140435474","price":10.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435474.jpg?v=1785103393"},{"product_id":"under-the-greenwood-tree","title":"Under The Greenwood Tree By Hardy, Thomas","description":"The arrival of two newcomers in the quiet village of Mellstock arouses a bitter feud and leaves a convoluted love affair in its wake. While the Reverend Maybold creates a furore among the village''s musicians with his decision to abolish the church''s traditional ''string choir'' and replace it with a modern mechanical organ, the new schoolteacher, Fancy Day, causes an upheaval of a more romantic nature, winning the hearts of three very different men - a local farmer, a church musician and Maybold himself. Under the Greenwood Tree follows the ensuing maze of intrigue and passion with gentle humour and sympathy, deftly evoking the richness of village life, yet tinged with melancholy for a rural world that Hardy saw fast disappearing.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548798263678,"sku":"NW9780140435535","price":9.07,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435535.jpg?v=1785125033"},{"product_id":"tess-of-the-durbervilles","title":"Tess Of The Durbervilles By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''The greatest tragic writer among the English novelists'' Virginia Woolf\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith its depiction of the wronged ''pure woman'' Tess and its powerful criticism of Victorian hypocrisy, \u003ci\u003eTess of the D''Urbervilles\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy''s novels. When its heroine, Tess Durbeyfield, is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D''Urbervilles, meeting her ''cousin'' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEdited with notes by TIM DOLIN and an Introduction by MARGARET R. HIGONNET\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548834210174,"sku":"NW9780141439594","price":9.07,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780141439594.jpg?v=1785103497"},{"product_id":"far-from-the-madding-crowd-1","title":"Far From The Madding Crowd By Hardy, Thomas","description":"Tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene, who must choose among three suitors in Wessex in the 1840s.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548834472318,"sku":"NW9780141439655","price":9.07,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780141439655.jpg?v=1786334782"},{"product_id":"mayor-of-casterbidge","title":"Mayor Of Casterbidge By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e''Hardy''s is a world that can never disappear'' Margaret Drabble\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSubtitled ''A  Story of a Man of Character'', Hardy''s powerful study of the heroic but deeply flawed Michael Henchard is an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of  a close-knit Dorsetshire town. Its events are set in motion when, in a fit of drunken anger, Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success lurks the shameful secret of his past. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEdited with an Introduction and Notes by Keith Wilson\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548834832766,"sku":"NW9780141439785","price":9.65,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780141439785.jpg?v=1785121086"},{"product_id":"return-of-the-native","title":"Return Of The Native By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003eThomas Hardy''s tragic vision of a love struggling to overcome prejudice and rejection, \u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e is edited in Penguin Classics with an introduction by Penny Bouhmelha.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAgainst the lowering background of Egdon Heath, fiery Eustacia Vye passes her days, wishing only for passionate love. She believes that her escape from Egdon lies in marriage to Clym Yeobright, home from Paris and discontented with his work there. But Clym wishes to return to the Egdon community; a desire which sets him in opposition to his wife and brings them both to despair. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the first edition of the text, this edition includes detailed notes of later revisions made by Hardy, glossary, bibliography and useful chronology of author''s life. In her introduction Penny Bouhmelha identifies the literary and classical allusions in Hardy''s text, in particular the parallels with Flaubert''s \u003ci\u003eMadame Bovary\u003c\/i\u003e and with the Oedipus story. In so doing she demonstrates Hardy''s claim for tragic status for ordinary human lives and the ways that the characters in the novel - especially the ill-fated lovers and Damon Wildeve - spoil their chances to master their own destinies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas Hardy (1840-1928), born Higher Brockhampton, near Dorchester, originally trained as an architect before earning his living as a writer. Though he saw himself primarily as a poet, Hardy was the author of some of the late eighteenth century''s major novels: \u003ci\u003eThe Mayor of Casterbridge \u003c\/i\u003e(1886), \u003ci\u003eTess of the D''Urbervilles\u003c\/i\u003e (1891), \u003ci\u003eFar from the Madding Crowd \u003c\/i\u003e(1874), and \u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure \u003c\/i\u003e(1895). Amidst the controversy caused by \u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure\u003c\/i\u003e, he turned to the poetry he had been writing all his life. In the next thirty years he published over nine hundred poems and his epic drama in verse, \u003ci\u003eThe Dynasts\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you enjoyed \u003ci\u003eThe Return of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e, you might like Anne Brontë''s \u003ci\u003eThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall\u003c\/i\u003e, also available in Penguin Classics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''The greatest tragic writer among the English novelists''\u003cbr\u003eVirginia Woolf\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548863308158,"sku":"NW9780140435184","price":10.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435184.jpg?v=1786328268"},{"product_id":"jude-the-obscure","title":"Jude The Obscure By Hardy, Thomas","description":"Details the story of Jude Fawley, a poor stonemason who longs to be a minister, and how the brutal deaths of his children and his inability to please the two women in his life hinder his dreams and threaten his existence.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57548863340926,"sku":"NW9780140435382","price":9.65,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780140435382.jpg?v=1786312988"},{"product_id":"return-of-the-native-1","title":"Return Of The Native By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e''Tremendous...utterly absorbing'' \u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Proud, passionate Eustacia Vye marries Clym Yeobright in the hope that he will help her escape her cramped rural existence. But when their relationship falters and her old lover Damon Wildeve reappears with an unexpected inheritance, Eustacia is faced with a series of decisions upon which multiple lives depend. In a world where misunderstandings can be fatal, Hardy’s atmospheric tragedy moves inevitably towards a disastrous climax on the brooding wilds of Egdon Heath. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ''Hardy''s novels hold a Shakespearean power of creating a unique world'' John Bayley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e See also: \u003ci\u003eJude the Obscure\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549058212222,"sku":"NW9780099518983","price":8.48,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780099518983.jpg?v=1784311314"},{"product_id":"jude-the-obscure-1","title":"Jude The Obscure By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e''One of the most compassionate of all writers...you feel a kind of agony of helpless tenderness in the writer for all troubled souls’ \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Jude Fawley is a young man who longs to better himself and go to Christminster University. However, poverty forces him into a job as a stonemason and an unhappy marriage. When his wife leaves him Jude moves to Christminster determined to follow his dream. There he meets and falls for his free-spirited cousin, Sue Bridehead. They refuse to marry, much to the disapproval of the community around them. In this heartbreaking story Hardy shows the devastating effects of social prejudice and oppression.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe novel caused outrage when it was published in 1895 and, as a result, was the last novel Hardy ever wrote.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e See also: \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eReturn of the Native\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549058244990,"sku":"NW9780099518990","price":8.48,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780099518990.jpg?v=1783186424"},{"product_id":"tess-of-the-durbervilles-1","title":"Tess Of The D'urbervilles By Hardy, Thomas","description":"HarperCollins is pround to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.''My life looks as if it had been wasted for want of chances! When I see what you know, what you have read, and seen, and thought, I feel what a nothing I am!''Challenging the hypocrisy and social conventions of the rural Victorian world, Tess of the D''Urbervilles follows the story of Tess Durbeyfield as she attempts to escape the poverty of her background, seeking wealth by claiming connection with the aristocratic D''Urberville family. It is through Tess''s relationships with two very different men that Hardy tells the story of his tragic heroine, and exposes the double standards of the world that she inhabits with searing pathos and heart-rending sentiment.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549079314814,"sku":"NW9780007350919","price":6.33,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780007350919_5a239945-320e-467b-be00-2872ce31136d.jpg?v=1785116169"},{"product_id":"far-from-the-madding-crowd-3","title":"Far From The Madding Crowd By Hardy, Thomas","description":"HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. Here is one of Thomas Hardy’s most popular novels, soon to be released as a major motion picture in May 2015.‘I shall do one thing in this life – one thing certain – that is, love you, and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die’Independent and spirited, Bathsheba Everdene owns the hearts of three men. Striving to win her love in different ways, their relationships with Bathsheba complicate her life in bucolic Wessex – and cast shadows over their own. With the morals and expectations of rural society weighing heavily upon her, Bathsheba experiences the torture of unrequited love and betrayal, and discovers how random acts of chance and tragedy can dramatically alter life’s course.The first of Hardy’s novels to become a major literary success, Far from the Madding Crowd explores what it means to live and to love.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549081182590,"sku":"NW9780007395163","price":6.03,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780007395163.jpg?v=1785123687"},{"product_id":"far-from-the-madding-crowd-4","title":"Far From The Madding Crowd By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003ePart 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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndependent 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549106315646,"sku":"NW9780141393384","price":14.02,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780141393384.jpg?v=1785111987"},{"product_id":"mayor-of-casterbridge","title":"Mayor Of Casterbridge By Hardy, Thomas","description":"HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘The movements of his mind seemed to tend to the thought that some power was working against him.’When Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser gets drunk and sells his wife at a country fair, his life will never be the same. Eighteen years later, his wife and daughter return to Casterbridge to find that Henchard has become Mayor. Although he’s spent most of his life attempting to repent for his actions, he remains a rash and impetuous man. Hardy portrays Henchard as a tragic hero, searching for love and acceptance from the community around him, posing the overarching question of whether we shape our own fate, or whether life deals us an inevitable hand.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549116965246,"sku":"NW9780007902118","price":6.33,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780007902118.jpg?v=1785120759"},{"product_id":"tess-of-the-durbervilles-2","title":"Tess Of The D'urbervilles By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Thomas Hardy''s thrilling story of seduction, murder, cruelty and betrayal’ \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich ''relatives'', the D''Urbervilles. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret...\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549125091710,"sku":"NW9780099560692","price":8.48,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780099560692.jpg?v=1785708214"},{"product_id":"far-from-the-madding-crowd-5","title":"Far From The Madding Crowd By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Penguin English Library Edition of \u003ci\u003eFar From the Madding Crowd \u003c\/i\u003eby Thomas Hardy\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''I cannot allow any man to - to criticise my private conduct!'' she exclaimed. ''Nor will I for a minute''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eHardy''s powerful novel of swift sexual passion and slow-burning loyalty centres on Bathsheba Everdene, a proud working woman whose life is complicated by three different men - respectable farmer Boldwood, seductive Sergeant Troy and devoted Gabriel - making her the object of scandal and betrayal. Vividly portraying the superstitions and traditions of a small rural community, \u003ci\u003eFar from the Madding Crowd\u003c\/i\u003e shows the precarious position of a woman in a man''s world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57549172441470,"sku":"NW9780141198934","price":9.65,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780141198934.jpg?v=1785109469"},{"product_id":"two-on-a-tower","title":"Two On A Tower By Hardy, Thomas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Penguin English Library Edition of \u003ci\u003eTwo on a Tower \u003c\/i\u003eby Thomas Hardy\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Then they proceeded to scan the sky, roving from planet to star, from single stars to double stars, from double to coloured stars...''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardy''s atmospheric, moving story of star-crossed lovers shows human beings at the mercy of forces far beyond their control, setting a tragic drama of human passion and conflict against a background of vast stellar space and scientific discovery.   \u003ci\u003eTwo on a Tower\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of Lady Constantine, who breaks all the rules of decorum when she falls in love with the beautiful youth Swithin St Cleeve, her social inferior and ten years her junior. 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