Fiction · 1878
The Return of the Native
The Return of the Native, first published in 1878, has been pulled into the Bibliomancer archive: the complete text, carefully cleaned and typeset, free to read online. Its editorial introduction is still being prepared.
Contents
- Preface
- Book First — The Three Women
- I — A Face on Which Time Makes but Little Impression
- II — Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble
- III — The Custom of the Country
- IV — The Halt on the Turnpike Road
- V — Perplexity among Honest People
- VI — The Figure against the Sky
- VII — Queen of Night
- VIII — Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody
- IX — Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy
- X — A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion
- XI — The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman
- Book Second — The Arrival
- I — Tidings of the Comer
- II — The People at Blooms-End Make Ready
- III — How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream
- IV — Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure
- V — Through the Moonlight
- VI — The Two Stand Face to Face
- VII — A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness
- VIII — Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart
- Book Third — The Fascination
- I — “My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is”
- II — The New Course Causes Disappointment
- III — The First Act in a Timeworn Drama
- IV — An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness
- V — Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues
- VI — Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete
- VII — The Morning and the Evening of a Day
- VIII — A New Force Disturbs the Current
- Book Fourth — The Closed Door
- I — The Rencounter by the Pool
- II — He Is Set upon by Adversities but He Sings a Song
- III — She Goes Out to Battle against Depression
- IV — Rough Coercion Is Employed
- V — The Journey across the Heath
- VI — A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian
- VII — The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends
- VIII — Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil
- Book Fifth — The Discovery
- I — “Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery”
- II — A Lurid Light Breaks in upon a Darkened Understanding
- III — Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning
- IV — The Ministrations of a Half-forgotten One
- V — An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated
- VI — Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter
- VII — The Night of the Sixth of November
- VIII — Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers
- IX — Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together
- Book Sixth — Aftercourses
- I — The Inevitable Movement Onward
- II — Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road
- III — The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin
- IV — Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation
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About this edition
The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.
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About the author
1840–1928 · Victorian
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was born near Dorchester, trained as an architect, and turned to fiction in his thirties. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895) are set in the “Wessex” he mapped onto the south-west of England. After the reception of Jude he wrote no more novels and devoted his last thirty years to poetry, publishing eight volumes and the verse drama The Dynasts.
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