The Macmillan Students Hardy is specifically intended for those reading Hardy's novels and poems with no previous knowledge of his life or background. This edition is, therefore, well-suited for students at first examinations.
The text of each novel has been carefully re-edited from the original Wessex edition (1912). As well as an intro-duction and explanatory notes, each book includes a chronological list of the main events of Hardy's life, a glossary of place names, a map showing the setting of the novel, and eight pages of illustrations.
In Hardy's own words, this is a 'novel addressed by a man to men and women of full age which attempts To tell, without mincing of words, of a deadly war waged berween flesh and spirit and to point the ragedy of unfulfilled sims."
Jude Fawley, a villager with high intellectual gifts and aspirations, is trapped carly in life into a disastrous marriage with a 'mere female animal. She soon deserts him, and he studies for the priesthood, but this ambition is thwarted by his passion for his married cousin, Suc Bridehead. Circumstances and the inhibitions of the age conspire to defeat all their hopes and bring them to dmaster.
BBCL

Condition: Good