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The Hand of Ethelberta

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The Hand of Ethelberta

By: Thomas Hardy
Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
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About this listen

Opportunistic, shrewd and beautiful, Ethelberta resolves to disguise her humble beginnings and elevate her position in society. Crafting her career as a society poet and staging her family as her servants, she proves admirably adept at sustaining her own web of deceit as she reinvents herself and navigates the attentions of four different suitors. The wealthiest is not the one she loves... what will she do? This is a light-hearted urban tale, offering a different side of Thomas Hardy. The master of pastoral realist novels was presenting a "somewhat frivolous narrative", which nevertheless displayed his acute consciousness of class divisions and continues to delight those who discover it within his better-known works.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2023 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd. Classics Historical Historical Fiction Romance Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"Fenella Woolgar gives an exemplary performance of this gentle comic novel, which skews the English class system.... Woolgar provides Ethelberta with a youthful, light tone that belies her resolute nature. Woolgar expertly distinguishes the many characters with individualized vocal expression. Her pacing is relaxed, and her vivid depictions of rural and city settings add atmosphere. This novel is an easy listen and can serve as an introduction to Hardy's works." (AudioFile)
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Fenella Woolgar provides a great narration of one of Hardy's lesser known novels. Fenella did a short, but very memorable turn as Catiche, in the recent dramatisation of War and Peace. I enjoyed her presentation of Catiche enormously, and this inspired me to give this lesser know Thomas Hardy work 'a go'. I love the way that she says the world 'stupid' in just the same way as in the War and Peace drama.

As far as the story goes, I found it really dull. Thomas Hardy is trying his hand at a drawing room style novel, with an upstairs/downstairs element. For this reason, the book is not entirely without interest. The characters seem oddly flat for Hardy, his famous treatment of nature is almost entirely absent. Ethelberta herself is not in the league of Hardy's iconic heroines such as Tess, Eustacia and Bathsheba - and she seems something of a forerunner for the odious Sue Bridehead of 'Jude the Obscure'.

To summarise then, a great narration of a Hardy novel that misses the mark.

A great narration

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The book was obviously dated in its attitudes and probably over-long. I couldn't endear myself to Ethelberta although I appreciate one of her life's objectives was to assist her family, but she was overbearing and autocratic in doing this. It's always a challenge for any author, even a talented one like Hardy, to get a listener on the side of a heroine when she puts position and money before all else. I did like the ending though and it was an enjoyable listen.

Mixed feelings

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