This fine novel sets in opposition two of Thomas Hardy’s most unforgettable creations: his heroine, the sensuous,free-spirited Eustacia Vye, and the solemn, majestic stretch of upland in Dorsetshire he called Egdon Heath.The famous opening reveals the haunting power of that dark, forbidding moor where proud Eustacia fervently awaits a clandestine meeting with her lover, Damon Wildeve. But Eustacia’s dreams of escape are not to be realized--neither Wildeve nor the returning native Clym Yeobright can bring her salvation.

Injured by forces beyond their control, Hardy’s characters struggle vainly in the net of destiny. In the end, only the face of the lonely heath remains untouched by fate in this masterpiece of tragic passion,a tale that perfectly epitomizes the author’s own unique and melancholy genius.

Book First: The Three Women

A Face on Which Time Makes But Little Impression

Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble

The Custom of the Country

The Halt on the Turnpike Road

Perplexity among Honest People

The Figure against the Sky

Queen of Night

Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Ben Nobody

Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy

A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion

The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman

Book Second: The Arrival

Tidings of the Comer

The People at Blooms-End Make Ready

How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream

Eustacia Is Led On to an Adventure

Through the Moonlight

The Two Stand Face to Face

A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness

Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart

Book Third: The Fascination

‘My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is’

The New Course Causes Disappointment

The First Act in a Timeworn Drama

An Hour of Bliss and Malty Hours of Sadness

Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues

Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete

The Morning and the Evening of a Day

A New Force Disturbs the Current

Book Fourth: The Closed Door

The Rencounter by the Pool

He is Set Upon by Adversities; but He Sings a Song

She Goes Out to Battle against Depression

Rough Coercion Is Employed

The, Journey across the Heath

A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian

The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends

Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil

Book Fifth: The Discovery

‘Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery’

A Lurid Light Breaks In upon a Darkened Understanding

Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning

The Ministrations of a Half-Forgotten One

An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated

Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter

The Night of the Sixth of November

Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers

Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together

Book Sixth: Aftercourses

The Inevitable Movement Onward

Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road

The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin

Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation

The date at which the following events are assumed to have occurred may be set down as between 1840 and 1850, when the old watering-place herein called ’Budmouth’ still retained sufficient afterglow from its Georgian gaiety and prestige to lend it an absorbing attractiveness to the romantic and imaginative soul of a lovely dweller inland.

Under the general name of ’Egdon Heath’, which has been given to the sombre scene of the story, are united or typified heaths of various real names, to the number of at least a dozen; these being virtually one in character and aspect, though their original unity, or partial unity, is now somewhat disguised by intrusive strips and slices brought under the plough with varying degrees of success, or planted to woodland.

It is pleasant to dream that some spot in the extensive tract whose south-western quarter is here described, may be the heath of that traditionary King of Wessex-Lear.

July 1895