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    Two on a Tower
    Two on a Tower
    Two on a Tower
    Ebook380 pages5 hours

    Two on a Tower

    By Thomas Hardy

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Science Fiction Romance

    “I think astronomy is a bad study for you. It makes you feel human insignificance too plainly.”- Thomas Hardy, Two on a Tower

    A book about the forbidden love between a 20 year old astronomer, Swithin, and Viviette, the much older woman of 29.
    This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.

    Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXist Publishing
    Release dateMar 17, 2016
    ISBN9781681957357
    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 Two on a Tower

    3.5/5

    93 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Somebody defined comedy as tragedy plus time. Reading Thomas Hardy's 1882 novel "Two on a Tower" I was reminded that the difference between comedy and tragedy can be even finer than that. It can merely be a matter of perspective. If you step into a puddle of water, it's a tragedy. If someone else steps into that puddle of water, it's a comedy.Have you ever listened to someone tell a story that could go either way? You had to closely watch the other person's face for clues as to whether you should be prepared to laugh heartily or express sympathy. That is a little what it's like reading this Hardy novel. The obstacles that pop up to interfere with the plans of his two lovers, Viviette Constantine and Swithin St. Cleve, are like those in a romantic comedy. But this is Thomas Hardy, and although he could write very funny scenes, especially early in his novels, you can usually expect a tragic ending. His modus operandi doesn't change much in Two on a Tower.Viviette is an attractive woman of about 30 whose husband left two years before to explore Africa. He has not been heard from since. This lonely woman begins to take an unseemly interest in Swithin, an amateur astronomer who has been using a tower on her husband's property to observe the heavens. She may be married and he may be nearly 10 years younger than her and interested only in science, but she is drawn to him just the same and becomes his benefactor, purchasing costly equipment for his use.When she learns her husband died in Africa, the romance becomes more two-sided, so much so that Swithin can no longer focus on his work. They decide to secretly marry, while continuing to live apart and secretly meeting at night (as if this will help him concentrate on astronomy). Then a bishop proposes marriage to Viviette, and her brother urges her to accept. And a girl in the village begins to take an interest in Swithin. The potential for comedy continues when Viviette learns her husband, while still very dead, did not die until much later than had been earlier reported. In fact, she did not become a widow until after she married Swithin. The complications go on from there.Someone else might have made a great comedy out of this material, but not Hardy. He did not even make a great tragedy. "Two on a Tower" is a pleasure to read, but it is easy to see why it is not considered one of his greatest accomplishments.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this lesser known work of Thomas Hardy but the ending was quite a shock. In this book Hardy is starting to get into the more tragic works he is better known for.Lady Constantine has been abandoned by her husband who decided to go hunting in Africa a few years ago. He seems to be quite a bully as, before he left, he exacted a promise from his wife that she would not go into society during his absence. This promise has led Lady Constantine to a very circumscribed life. She meets Swithin St. Cleve who is using a tower on her husband's land to study astronomy. Swithin is only 20 years old and very good looking. "He had such a complexion as that with which Raffaelle enriches the countenance of the youthful son of Zacharias,-- a complexion which, though clear, is far enough removed from virgin delicacy, and suggests plenty of sun and wind as its accompaniment. His features were sufficiently straight in the contours to correct the beholder's firs impression that the head was the head of a girl." Lady Constantine (Viviette) thinks that the study of astronomy would be sufficiently interesting to her to take her out of her boring life. She is almost 10 years older than Swithin but finds herself quite attracted to him. When Swithin falls dangerously ill she flies to his bedside and kisses him with ardour. Swithin recovers and soon after Lady Constantine receives news that her husband has died of dysentery in Africa. Swithin realizes, after overhearing some locals, that Viviette is in love with him and he realizes that he loves her. This realization causes him to ignore his astronomy and he proposes to Viviette. They decide to marry in secret in Bath and then return to Wessex to live separately until Swithin achieves success. Viviette must be the one to establish residency in Bath because a storm has caused damage to Swithin's grandmother's house and he has to stay to repair it. On his way to Bath he meets the postman who gives him a letter informing him that a great-uncle has left him an annuity on the condition that he remain unmarried until he is 25 years old.Thus the major themes of the book are set in place. If the marriage takes place then Swithin loses his best chance to become a famous astronomer since neither he nor Viviette have much money and the life of a scientist is expensive. He may think his love for Viviette will be sufficient but there is also the age difference. If the marriage doesn't take place then at least one of them and perhaps both will be miserable. Swithin is the rational scientist but he is also deeply in love. Viviette is a romantic but she would give up her own happiness for Swithin. I'm a bit of an astronomy buff so I found lots of the details fascinating. In modern times the countryside has so much light pollution that it is difficult to see the Milky Way but Swithin and Viviette saw it as a bright ribbon across the sky. I envy that. One astronomy detail puzzles me though: at their first meeting Swithin is looking at the sun through his telescope. I've always heard that you should never look directly at the sun especially with lenses or you risk eye damage. How did Swithin (and later Viviette) manage to do this?
    • 5/5
      DESCRIPTION: In this novel, set in Wessex, the rich Lady Constantine lives a boring existence, also a chaste one, forced on her by an absent husband who may indeed be dead. But then she meets young Swithin, a naively ambitious astronomer, who shares with her his passion for the stars.

      MY REVIEW: One of the reasons I love this story is that the characters were incredibly unique for their era. The main female lead (Lady Constantine) is ten years senior to the male lead (Swithin).

      The other element I loved is how astronomy is a large part of the telling of the story: "This slightly-built romance was the outcome of a wish to set the emotional history of two infinitesimal lives against the stupendous background of the stellar universe, and to impart to readers the sentiment that of these contrasting magnitudes the smaller might be the greater to them as men."

      Hardy was a fatalist who could sympathize with the plight of women in an era where their pursuit of pleasure cold render them ruined, either by unwanted pregnancy and/or societal disdain and disgrace.

      He saw the yearning to be a sensual being, but all the many limitations that would prevent a woman from being able to thoroughly pursue her pleasure.

      Classic angst. Yearning. Agony.

      He played out a popular theme, an undying theme, in this story - the one told of two 'star-crossed' lovers.

      It's time for a re-read...
    • 5/5
      Hardy, of course, needs no review. But Michael Kitchen deserves credit for his fine reading of this tale.
    • 4/5
      As always, Hardy's style is very user friendly. Two on a Tower is no exception. This was a simple and straightforward work in many ways. No unnecessary characters or detail, just an enjoyable story about the trials and tribulations of two lovers from very different backgrounds, both in terms of societal status and age. My only "complaint" was that the ending was both abrupt and did not flow from the actual work.For those looking for more character development, better to read The Mayor of Casterbridge. Nonetheless, a recommended read.
    • 4/5
      “Two on a Tower” is one of my favourite Hardy novels. I’m reviewing this six years after I read it, so can’t offer an in-depth account, but I intend to give it a second look some day.What I do remember is another tragic love story, written like only Hardy could write. Definitely worth a read.

    Book preview

    Two on a Tower - Thomas Hardy

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