Thomas Hardy (Paperback)

From the Publisher: A seminal portrait of the enigmatic nineteenth-century novelist and poet, written by the Whitbread Book of the Year-winning author of Samuel Pepys, discusses his humble origins, rise through the London literary scene, and efforts to challenge the sexual and religious conventions of his time. Reprint.Â?A masterful portraitÂ? (The Philadelphia Inquirer) from a Whitbread AwardÂ?winning biographer || The novels of Thomas Hardy have a permanent place on every bookloverÂ's shelf, yet little is known about the interior life of the man who wrote them. A believer and an unbeliever, a socialist and a snob, an unhappy husband and a desolate widower, Hardy challenged the sexual and religious conventions of his time in his novels and then abandoned fiction to reestablish himself as a great twentieth-century lyric poet. In this acclaimed new biography, Claire Tomalin, one of todayÂ's preeminent literary biographers, investigates this beloved writer and reveals a figure as rich and complex as his tremendous legacy.A seminal portrait of the enigmatic nineteenth-century novelist and poet, written by the Whitbread Book of the Year-winning author of Samuel Pepys, discusses his humble origins, rise through the London literary scene, and efforts to challenge the sexual and religious conventions of his time. Reprint.