Far from the Madding Crowd (THE GREAT CLASSICS LIBRARY)

Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. The book might be described as an early piece of feminist literature, since it features an independent woman with the courage to defy convention by running a farm herself. Although the heroine's passionate nature leads her into serious errors of judgment, Hardy endows her with sufficient resilience, intelligence, and good luck to overcome her youthful folly.