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Thomas Hardy Audiobook
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(3.05) - 426 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Whitbread Award winner Claire Tomalin's seminal biography of the enigmatic novelist and poet Thomas Hardy.
Today Thomas Hardy is best known for creating the great Wessex landscape as the backdrop to his rural stories, starting with Far from the Madding Crowd, and making them classics. But his true legacy is that of a progressive thinker. When he published Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure late in his career, Hardy explored a very different world than that of his rural tales, one in which the plight of lower classes and women take center stage while the higher classes are damned. Ironically, though, Hardy remained cloaked in the arms of this very upper class during the publication of these books, acting at all times in complete convention with the rules of society. Was he using his books to express himself in a way he felt unable to do in the company he kept, or did he know sensationalism would sell? Award-winning author Claire Tomalin expertly reconstructs the life that led Hardy to maintain conventionality and write revolution.
Born in Dorset in 1840, Hardy came of age in rather meager circumstances. At sixteen, he left home for London and slowly worked his way through many rejections to become a published writer. Despite his mother's admonitions to never marry, he wed Emma Lavinia Gifford in 1874 and, even though he fell easily in love, stayed true to her till her death in 1912. He frequently toured London society, but few felt they knew the true Hardy, and it is this very core of self that Tomalin elegantly brings us to know so completely.
Hardy's work consistently challenged sexual and religious conventions in a way that few other books of his time did. Though his personal modesty and kindness allowed some to underestimate him or even to pity him, they did not prevent him from taking on the central themes of human experience-time, memory, loss, love, fear, grief, anger, uncertainty, death. And it was exactly his quiet life, full of the small, personal dramas of family quarrels, rivalries, and at times, despair, that infuses his works with the rich detail that sets them apart as masterpieces. In this engrossing biography, Tomalin skillfully identifies the inner demons and the outer mores that drove Hardy and presents a rich and complex portrait of one of the greatest figures in English literature.
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"Claire Tomalin succeeds in presenting Thomas Hardy's life in a smooth arc which I can follow without the need to rewind just to see how such-and-such transition came about. All too often, biographies contain blind spots which leave me without a sense of character development through all the phases of a career. Not so here. I found the genealogy a little bit tedious, especially as all the men were called Thomas, it seemed, and I tended to lose track of which one was being referred to. One interesting speculation was made about the cause of Emma's death: namely, that it had something to do with the aorta, because of the back pain symptom. It may well have been the vary rare disease called aortitis, the inflammation of the aortic wall, or periaortitis (inflammation surrounding the aorta). Josephine Bailey's impeccable narration is pitch-perfect. Her melodious voice carries the narrative so beautifully that I'm loath now to start the final chapter because I know I'm going to feel a littl"
— Timothy (5 out of 5 stars)
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[An] excellent new biography.
— The New York Times Sunday Book Review
Thomas Hardy Listener Reviews
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Mousepensky, 3/10/2021
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" Tomalin is the best of biographers. Exhaustive and lengthy, yet keeps you fascinated by the man she brings to life in this book. Incredible research and rich detail written with real talent. "
— Dana, 2/18/2014 -
" Great reading. Amazing insights into Hardy's life and times. Made me understand where he was coming from when he wrote books like Tess of the D'urbervilles and Jude The Obscure "
— Ruth, 2/18/2014 -
" A good biography, and beautifully written as always with Tomalin, though I didn't really learn much that was new after reading other Hardy biographies in the past. "
— Judy, 1/30/2014 -
" Tom and I listened to this while on a trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming. If we'd been able to get NPR in more places I'd never have finished it. Ms. Tomalin was overly thorough with details about the births and deaths of relatives, speculations about when Hardy might have discovered he was conceived before his parents married and how that might have affected his work. Perhaps it is better read than listened to. I'm sure I would have skimmed through many parts of this book if I had been reading it rather than trapped listening to it. A little too much of this book seems to be Ms. Tomalin showing off her genealogical research skills. Apparently she didn't have a lot of source material to work with since his second wife destroyed notes, diaries and letters that predated her arrival when Hardy was in his 70s. Usually after reading a biography I am more interested in an author. This time I am less interested. "
— Nancy, 1/23/2014 -
" This was a very nice, thorough biography of Hardy. It made me want to go back and reread some of his books and poetry now that I know a bit more about his influences and the parts of his life that inspired his writing. It took me a long time to read this book--I only had 30-minute snatches of time here and there. I'd recommend reading it if you have more time to devote to it--I didn't like reading it in such a piecemeal fashion. "
— D., 1/22/2014 -
" Thomas Hardy rises above his social station by becoming one of the most noted writers of Victorian England. "
— Valerie, 1/16/2014 -
" I am a fan of Hardy books and found this biography very interestting. Its insightful as to Hardy's life and brings a much more personal touch to the novels that he wrote and their subject matter. "
— Shui, 12/15/2013 -
" Contains many interesting bits for Hardy readers. Not quite as fun as Tomalin's Austen biography, perhaps owing to its length, perhaps to Hardy himself. "
— Cat, 11/27/2013 -
" Absolutely excellent. It ties Hardy's life and works together and presents him in full depth of character and detail of life. When I finished I felt as though I knew him personally. "
— Joyce, 11/25/2013 -
" Fantastic bio "
— John, 6/4/2013 -
" Gives a very good understanding of what Thomas Hardy was like as a writer and person. "
— Jennifer, 3/24/2013 -
" This biography is beautiful and complete. It is particularly valuable as a glimpse into the life of Thomas Hardy's wife. "
— Laura, 2/17/2013 -
" A serviceable biography of one of my favorite authors. It wasn't really a page-turner, but I learned a lot about him, and I didn't end up hating him at the end. "
— Lee, 7/1/2012 -
" I worship Thomas Hardy. Enough said. And while Tomalin's "might have"s "would have"s etc gets annoying after a while, and while I think each novel deserved more analysis, Hardy's life and works stand on their own. "
— Sarah, 4/2/2012 -
" This biography is beautiful and complete. It is particularly valuable as a glimpse into the life of Thomas Hardy's wife. "
— Laura, 11/24/2010 -
" Tomalin is the best of biographers. Exhaustive and lengthy, yet keeps you fascinated by the man she brings to life in this book. Incredible research and rich detail written with real talent. "
— Dana, 5/9/2010 -
" Absolutely excellent. It ties Hardy's life and works together and presents him in full depth of character and detail of life. When I finished I felt as though I knew him personally. "
— Joyce, 3/15/2010 -
" Although Claire Tomalin is obviously a big fan of Thomas Hardy's poetry this was a well balanced biography. Very interesting and very readable. It has made me want to read more of his work especially the poetry. "
— Tracey, 6/15/2009 -
" Great reading. Amazing insights into Hardy's life and times. Made me understand where he was coming from when he wrote books like Tess of the D'urbervilles and Jude The Obscure "
— Ruth, 5/7/2009 -
" Contains many interesting bits for Hardy readers. Not quite as fun as Tomalin's Austen biography, perhaps owing to its length, perhaps to Hardy himself. "
— Cat, 4/13/2009 -
" I am a fan of Hardy books and found this biography very interestting. Its insightful as to Hardy's life and brings a much more personal touch to the novels that he wrote and their subject matter. "
— Shui, 10/18/2008
About Claire Tomalin
Claire Tomalin is the author of eight highly acclaimed biographies, including Charles Dickens: A Life and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, which won the 2002 Whitbread Book of the Year Award. She has previously won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography, the Hawthornden Prize, the NCR Book Award for Non-Fiction, and the Whitbread First Book Prize. Educated at Cambridge University, she served as literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times.
About Josephine Bailey
Josephine Bailey’s impeccable narrations include the British classics Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden. She has also used her subtly nuanced style to enliven historical fiction and light romances. She has won nine AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award.