A wonderfully evocative tale of the courtship of Fancy Day, newly arrived schoolmistress, by Dick Dewy, carrier of goods, during the four seasons of one year in Wessex.

Most of Hardys’ work had tragedy woven into the narrative but ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ is full of whimsy and good humour. The story is not without its serious comment, however as Hardy reflects on class division and the disappearance of heritage in the rural community.

Parson Maybold, a rival for Fancy’s hand, has plans to install a mechanical organ in his church thereby replacing the services of the choir. The village rustics, who resent this intrusion, bring much comedy to the tale and were such a successful addition that the author used the idea in several of his later works.

The book is Hardy’s most appealing statement - revealing his respect and reverence for musical tradition, the countryside and the simple nature of the people who inhabited its fragile communities.

Collection	Narrator	Length
Victorian	Peter Joyce	7 hrs

Media	Compact Disc
Media Qty	6
Audio Format	CD-DA
Book Code	VI-127CD
ISBN	978 1 86015 064 7
Price	£18.49

Thomas Hardy (1840 –1928) was a British novelist, short story writer, and poet. Thomas Hardy was born east of Dorchester in Dorset. His father was a stonemason and local builder. His mother was ambitious and well-read, supplementing his formal education, which ended at the age of 16 when he became apprenticed to a local architect. Hardy's work takes place in the "partly-real, partly-dream" county of Wessex, which is named after the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that existed in the area. The landscape was modelled on the real counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire, with fictional places based on real locations. He captured the epoch just before the railways and the industrial revolution changed the English countryside. His works are pessimistic and bitterly ironic, and his writing is rough but capable of immense power. Hardy had an eye for poignant detail. He was disgusted with the public reception of two of his greatest works and he gave up writing novels altogether.

Click here to find out more about Thomas Hardy.

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