Thomas Hardy: A Literary Life

Thomas Hardy is today recognised as second only to Shakespeare in the greatness of his achievement. Writer of fourteen published novels, two or three of them among the greatest in our language, of that remarkable Napoleonic epic, The Dynasts, of nearly eight books of verse containing some of the finest and most anthologised of all English poems, and a host of short stories, Hardy is a fascinating literary personality. James Gibson traces his life from his birth in a humble cottage in Dorset t…