The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies...

Jude the Obscure, the semi-autobiographical final novel from Thomas Hardy explores notions of surprising candor; within the eponymous protagonist lies the tragic truth of failed ambitions and relationships. In a fierce exploration of the darkness of love and the intellect, this is one of the great tragic novels of English literature. Jude Fawley, an earnest boy from a rural English village, dreams of a life of academia despite his working-class background....

Story of Egdon Heath and Eustacia Vye in late nineteenth century Wessex, England.

"Three novels of love, ambition, and nineteenth-century English society. This volume includes three of the greatest works by the iconic Victorian novelist. The Return of the Native : Eustacia Vye yearns to escape the village of Egdon Heath, but her marriage to a well-traveled man doesn't bring the adventure she craves, in this novel that brilliantly evokes the dangerous allure of romantic fantasies. Tess of the D'Urbervilles : A young woman struggles...

As popular today as they were during the author's lifetime, the works of Thomas Hardy captivate readers with their gripping narrative power and arresting imagery. This collection presents a trio of the author's finest and most representative short stories. "The Distracted Preacher," a flawless comedy graced with Shakespearean touches, concerns a pair of ill-matched lovers and the breakup of a little network of smugglers. "The Three Strangers" offers...

These heart-soaring tales of romance and tragedy are widely considered four of the finest novels in English literature. Wuthering Heights is an immortal story of love and obsession on the stormy Yorkshire moors. The fate of the Earnshaw family is forever changed when they adopt a dark-skinned orphan boy named Heathcliff. As the years pass, Heathcliff and young Catherine Earnshaw fall deeply in love, but their passion cannot survive the pressures of...