The Woodlanders

The novel was later classified by Hardy for the Wessex Edition of his works into the primary group of "Novels of Character and Environment", versus the other two lesser categories of his novels. The novel remained Hardy's personal favourite, and is widely acknowledged to be among his finest achievements. The "woodland story" it narrates was evidently intended to be the successor to his 1874 Far from the Madding Crowd, but he laid the concept of the novel aside to try other genres and works....