Under the Greenwood Tree or the Mellstock Quire - A Rural Painting of the Dutch School (Paperback)

from AlisonY

Under the Greenwood Tree was the first of Hardy's Wessex novels, and his first commercially successful novel after his first novel Desperate Remedies flopped. First published in 1872, in the 20 years subsequent he updated the book several times when it was republished by different houses, mainly ...

from quoddy

I wouldn't say it was a bad book; it was wonderfully written. However, I've seen Hardy do much better. So do not read this as your first taste of Hardy, but rather as a book that shows his novel-writing development.

from kaitanya64

This is considered Hardy's most gentle novel. The story of a poor boy and the school mistress he loves, Hardy does weave in questions about the conventional wisdom of honesty and the nature of romantic love. While the book ends (you knew it would) with a happy wedding, the questions about how wel...

from m.belljackson

Gaffers and gamers gather around The Greenwood Tree to consider their musical fate, to ponder the past, and to mull over both the present and the future. Characters are lightly presented, with none that may draw readers close as in Thomas Hardy's other novels. His usual compelling depictions of l...

from milti

This is much softer than his other more well known novels.