Far From the Madding Crowd

'Far From the Madding Crowd' was Thomas Hardy's breakthrough novel...not only was it his first critical success, but it also saw the maturing and refining of his style, looking ahead to his later masterpieces like 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' and 'The Woodlanders'. The story concerns a shepherd called Gabriel Oak, and his love for Bathsheba Everdene...but it is also the story of English rural life, its joys, its comedies, and its sorrows.