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    The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy: "The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him."
    The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy: "The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him."
    The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy: "The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him."
    Ebook478 pages8 hours

    The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy: "The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him."

    By Thomas Hardy

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Thomas Hardy (2nd June 1840 – 11th January 1928), celebrated poet and writer, was born in a modest thatched cottage near Dorchester in the West country, to a builder father. His mother came from a line of intelligent, lively and ambitious women so ensured her son had the best formal education available for their modest means although this ended when he was 16. He became a draughtsman specialising in the building of churches was able to give it up to be a full time writer and poet with the publication of Far From the Madding Crown which became a bestseller and like much of his work was serialised. His writing reflects his passionate beliefs for social reform and exposes the hypocrisy of the rules of the Victorian age which constrained many freedoms with convention and restricted the transcending of class boundaries. His novels are almost entirely set in rural Wessex which although fictional is clearly rooted in the SW counties of England where he was born and lived most of his life. Hardy’s writing caused controversy in his lifetime but despite this he was highly praised and showered with honorary doctorates from many universities, a knighthood, which he refused and in 1910 the prestigious Order of the Merit. The relationship between man and trees is a recurrent theme in Hardy’s work and here in The Woodlanders it is explored in depth with the characters being fellow inhabitants with the trees and their struggles interconnected with the trees. Set in the familiar Dorset landscape this novel follows the fortunes of Giles Winterbourne, a good hearted native of the area who works as a yeoman. His childhood sweetheart Grace Melbury has been away to private school and stayed on as a governess. On her return Giles’ love for her is challenged by rival, Edred Fitzpierrs, a young and dashing doctor who wins her hand in marriage. This match is an unhappy one and affects the woodland community in this extraordinary novel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA Word To The Wise
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9781780009834
    The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy: "The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him."
    Author

    Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in Dorchester, Dorset. He enrolled as a student in King’s College, London, but never felt at ease there, seeing himself as socially inferior. This preoccupation with society, particularly the declining rural society, featured heavily in Hardy’s novels, with many of his stories set in the fictional county of Wessex. Since his death in 1928, Hardy has been recognised as a significant poet, influencing The Movement poets in the 1950s and 1960s.

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    Reviews for The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy

    4/5

    371 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I've read this Hardy novel several times. I don't seem to tire of Giles' pathetic and heroic devotion.
    • 4/5
      One of Hardy's wonderfully evocative tales of a lost world. the characters live in an isolated community in the forest, where superstition and respectability rule their lives. The main story is about people destroyed by the law of the times which prevented divorce even when a guilty party had abandoned and mistreated his wife. This is all set in haunting, dark and primitive woodland. At the end the hero dies and almost merges into the landscape. Tragic and passionate!
    • 4/5
      I love Thomas Hardy's writing. His descriptive prose is great, and he creates characters whom one loves to love and loves to hate. The experience of reading this particular book was a little bit like watching a tennis match with the plot moving back and forth repeatedly. I always have a bit of difficulty with the sexism, but I try to remember the time period in which the book was written. One of the heroines in this story is repeatedly manipulated by her father, until finally, near the end she takes a costly stand for herself. All-in-all, a wonderful read!
    • 4/5
      This was a fairly typical Hardy novel: misplaced affections, broken hearts, overindulgent parents, class divisions, long lost lovers reunited, hints of scandal, etc. There's a bit of Gabriel Oak in Giles Winterborne (and, for that matter, a bit of Bathsheba Everdene in Grace Melbury). Still, I enjoyed the novel, which I listened to on audio, read by the wonderful Samuel West. The secondary female characters--particularly the spunky and loyal Marty South, but also Felice Charmond and Suke Damson--give the novel an added charm, but the conflicted, rather immature, manipulating and rather easily manipulated Grace Melbury really just needed a good smack.
    • 2/5
      A rare failure to finish the book here. The introduction by Patricia Ingham reveals most of the plot, and as the plot has that common Victorian failing of being more than a little contrived, I struggled with the text. I have enjoyed Hardy in the past, and I expect to go back to this book some time in the future - when my memories of the details in the intro have fade. :)100 pages read March 2015
    • 4/5
      This Hardy novel tells the story of Grace, whose father has worked hard to educate her about what is typical for their class so that she may have improved opportunities in life. She does indeed marry well in theory as a result, but the moral of the story without giving the plot away is that moving upwards doesn't necessarily equal happiness.As always, a terrific web of storytelling from Hardy. Although supposedly his personal favourite of all his novels, I preferred Tess and The Mayor of Casterbridge, but it was a great read nonetheless.3.5 stars - probably quite a harsh rating, but I'm comparing this book with Hardy's other work rather than on a par with other novels.
    • 4/5
      It took three attempts to get into this novel (after loving the film version), but using Libravox as a "book on tape" worked. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of love gone wrong several times over this time around.
    • 3/5
      Though not as good as Hardy's better-known novels, it's definitely not his worst. The end could have been better.
    • 4/5
      The third book by Thomas Hardy for me. I like his writing. This one is set in the Woodlands and involves people who make money from the timber industry. Giles has been led to believe that he and Grace will be husband and wife but Grace’s father backs out and convinces himself that his daughter needs to marry up and not beneath herself. Grace has been educated in boarding schools. This story is very much like a modern day soap opera. Grace marries the doctor, the doctor is unfaithful. Grace wants a divorce but is denied it. The doctor returns to her, she rejects him but he doesn’t give up. This book doesn’t have the same amount of tragedy found in his other books but still it is enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      I found “The Woodlanders” good in parts but a little disappointing on the whole. As it’s Thomas Hardy, I would like to give it a second read some time.
    • 3/5
      Not my favourite of the Hardy's but still well worth a read if you enjoy the English countryside and those that reside there.
    • 5/5
      On the surface this could be categorized as one of those Victorian 'marriage plot' novels. A woman is pursued by 2 men, someone with social status but little moral character and someone who is lower class but has all the qualities of a hero. But this book deals with so much more. It touches on the issues of class, women's role in society, social rules like extra-marital sex and ostracism when those social rules are broken. And Hardy deals with these issues so well. There are all of those pivotal points where people can choose their path in life and you know that one decision will have repercussions that will determine their future and the future of so many other people. Always tragic and always a pleasure to read. This is probably one of my favorite Hardy novels.
    • 4/5
      This is the 4th Thomas Hardy book I've read. Interestingly I love them while I'm reading them but in less than a month I can barely remember the plots. They always deal with the picturesque beautiful countryside and simple folk's ways being upturned by the big bad city people creeping into their town. In The Woodlanders, Grace's father decides to educate her, but then she is too good for everyone around her so she marries Giles, the city doctor who is working in their village. Everything falls apart and Grace and her father both regret her education and the loss of their idyllic life. Same theme as the other Hardy books I've read.
    • 5/5
      Thomas Hardy was an architect by profession and his eye is sensitive to the historic environment engulfing his protagonists. His awareness of time and space and the vast tapestry that humans strut there stuff on, is second to none apart from perhaps ahem.... Mr Shakespeare himself. It is a story of the macrocosm of human passion set against the microcosm of village life. I keep coming back to this one over and over again. To be read slowly on a winters eve next to a hot pot of tea, crumpets, slippers and a roaring fire....
    • 5/5
      A slow burner, the plot seemed to take a while to get going - and where was it going? Page by page the characters came to life unravelling the complexities of love and relationships in a rural background. Marty South stayed true until the end, Edreds will always keep his options open, Graces will always be grounded in their woodland upbringing and poor old Giles, ordinary, hardworking Giles - there will always be some of those. What a tapestry, the ups and downs, caused by class, destiny and human nature, the emotions reflected in the changing seasons and the criss-crossing and tangles of the woodland paths. The introduction of the frightening agricultural man-trap near the end was a stroke of genius - whom would it catch, squeeze and bring down? Whom would it release? The mystery and tension remained taut until the end.

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    The Woodlanders, By Thomas Hardy - Thomas Hardy

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