Oxford World's Classics: Two on a Tower

Published in 1882, his ninth novel, Two on a Tower is Hardy's most complete and daring treatment of the theme of love between characters of different classes and ages. Viviette, the married lady of the manor, is nine years older than Swithin St Cleve, the 20-year old 'Adonis-astronomer', a 'lad of striking beauty, scientific attainments, and cultivated bearing', the orphaned son of a curate who married the daughter of a family of farmers. The story of their love, both complex and remarkable...