Thomas Hardy: His Life and Friends

This up-to-date and highly informative biography contains new disclosures and interpretations of evidence, and observes commendable proportions, neglecting nothing significant in Hardy's early years, and providing the most relevant details on his later life. It draws from innumerable sources, including all his published writings (not least the poems), biographies of him and of contemporaries, correspondence of friends and acquaintances, Emma Hardy's diaries, and many unpublished letters from her and Florence Hardy. Except for brief background introductions which indicate how some of Hardy's friends (ranging chronologically from William Barnes and Horace Moule to Colonel Lawrence and Siegfried Sassoon) influenced his career or enriched his life, this biography keeps very closely in touch with him and his literary work and interests. The division between him and Emma is a dominant issue. On this and elsewhere, wherever uncertainty is inherent, the author provides the available evidence without any fictional assertion. His work is well organized, cogent, and full of interest.