With introduction and notes by Norman Vance, Professor of English,
University of Sussex, "Far from the Madding Crowd" is perhaps the most
pastoral of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young
farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive
Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and
true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish
philosophy of life was '...the past was yesterday; never, the day
after'.
And lastly, of the introverted and reclusive gentleman
farmer, Mr Boldwood, whose love fills him with '...a fearful sense of
exposure', when he first sets eyes on Bathsheba. The background of this
tale is the Wessex countryside in all its moods.
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Bathsheba Everdene is young and beautiful. She has her own farm and she likes to do things her way. Three men are in love with her - a poor shepherd, a rich farmer and a soldier. Which man will she choose, and will he be the right one for her?
