Far From the Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy's first major literary success, Far from the Madding Crowd, published in 1874, gave the name of Wessex to the landscape of south-west England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. In rural Victorian England, independent and wilful Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her valiant presence draws three very different suitors- Gabriel Oak (a generous shepherd), Boldwood (a proud, ...