Three classics stories set in rural Dorset, about people who lived on Egdon Heath in the 1800s that have themes of mystery and romance. Who is the tell stranger who comes to the shepherd's cottage? Why has farmer Lodges's young wife fallen ill? Who will marry Tony Kytes?
In a village deep in woodlands of Dorset, the lives of the inhabitants, who gain their living from the trees around them, are affected by the lives of outsiders. Giles Winterbourne loves and is engaged to Grace Melbury, the daughter of a rich timber merchant. But when Giles loses his money, Grace's father insists that his daughter marries a handsome and attractive young doctor, Eddred Fitzpiars.
Gabriel Oak is an honest, hard-working young farmer, who falls in love with the beautiful and independent Bathsheba Everdene. After a tragic accident, Gabriel loses his farm. Bathsheba, on the other hand, becomes rich. Is there any hope for Gabriel?
"... under the crushing recognition of his gigantic error Jude continued to wish himself out of the world..." Fired with a loved of learning, Jude Fawley yearns for scholarly self-improvement amid the dreaming spires of nearby Christminster. His humble background renders a university education, so tantalisingly within physical reach, frustratingly beyond his grasp. Already a prisoner of his …