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The Return of the Native

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The Return of the Native

By: Thomas Hardy
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

One of Thomas Hardy's classic statements about modern love, courtship, and marriage, The Return of the Native is set in the pastoral village of Egdon Heath. The fiery Eustacia Vye, wishing only for passionate love, believes that her escape from Egdon lies in her marriage to Clym Yeobright, the returning "native", home from Paris and discontented with his work there. Clym wishes to remain in Egdon, however - a desire that sets him in opposition to his wife and brings them both to despair. Surrounding them are Clym's mother, who is strongly opposed to his marriage; Damon Wildeve, who is in love with Eustacia but married to Clym's cousin Thomasin; and the oddly ambiguous observer Diggory Venn, whose frustrated love for Thomasin turns him into either a guardian angel or a jealous manipulator - or perhaps both.

This stew of curdled love and conflicting emotions can only boil over into tragedy, and the book's darkly ironic ending marks it as both a classically Victorian novel and a forerunner of the modernist fiction that followed it.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor Classics Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance Victorian Marriage Witty
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Like Dickens before him, Hardy comes up with some spectacular names for his characters. Who amongst us has ever met a woman called Eustachia or a man going by the name of Diggory? Never mind, it all adds to the power of this novel, one of Hardy's best. The story starts slowly and enigmatically as the author sets the scene of Egdon Heath with its empty vistas of moorland and sparse assortment of dwellings. But it soon picks up speed and maintains the readers interest with a variety of entanglements, surprises, joys & troubles. If you like any of Hardy's other books you will enjoy this one too. The main question is whose resding to choose from. I started with Alan Rickman's but found his strength of voice too much for the narrative. So I switched to Simon Vance's reading which I thoroughly recommend. And thanks to Audible's returns policy this was easily accomplished without incurring any extra expense.

Eustachia Vye & Diggory Venn

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A half sad and nearly 'half' glad story was being unfolded, here and there, up and down, touching and withdrawing...Once again Simon Vance has given his master blessing. It is almost OK to look beyond the faults of the characters. From time to time, it's comforting to know the present of the 'goodness', presented by and manifested through a reddleman. It is a 'real' story worth sharing.

Masterfully Performed

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