Thomas hardy first novel

Thomas Hardy was born on the morning of 2nd June 1840 in the isolated thatched cottage, built by his great-grandfather at Higher Bockhampton, a hamlet on the edge of Piddletown Heath, three miles east of the county town of Dorchester. Both his maternal grandmother Betty and his mother, Jemima, were notable and purposeful women with vigorous and lively minds, and from them Hardy drew his keen sensitivity and his tenacious intellectual curiosity. But in depth of character and especially in his quiet, unassuming determination, he seems more to have resembled his father, also Thomas Hardy, a builder by trade, who had inherited a genius and passion for music. His talents were passed down to the younger Thomas who from an early age was playing the folk fiddle at local ‘randys’, and who throughout his life could be moved to tears by certain pieces of music. The personalities of his parents, the close-knit life of the small rural community, and the often harsh environment of the surrounding heath and woodland formed a deep and lasting impression on

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