Under the Greenwood Tree

Under the Greenwood Tree is a classic fiction novel written by Thomas Hardy and first published in 1872. Known as The Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, this is one of the most popular of Hardy's novels, this charming pastoral idyll is a lightly humorous depiction of life in an early Victorian rural community. The story delicately balances the concerns of the Mellstock parish choir with a romance between a member of the choir and the village schoolmistress.