The Return of the Native

Eustacia Vye despises her boring country village of Egdon Heath. Beautiful, headstrong, and passionate, Eustacia longs to escape her home and lead a life of romance and adventure. And when Clym Yeobright, the eponymous native, returns from Paris, Eustacia decides that she will make him fall in love with her. Soon, their lives are intertwined in an endless labyrinth of passion, tragedy, and misfortune.

One of Thomas Hardy’s most famous novels, ‘The Return of the Native’ caused outcry for its unapologetically bold female characters and illicit sexual content. Eustacia Vye is a heroine to rival the likes of ‘Vanity Fair's Becky Sharp or even ‘Bridgerton's' Daphne.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was an English writer of poetry, novels, and short stories. He belonged to the victorian realist tradition and was influenced by the writings of Romanticism. His novels strongly criticise Victorian society for constraining individuals regarding marriage, education, and religion: shunning happiness in the name of social propriety. Hardy’s works explore themes of love, class, and poverty with a painstaking devotion to realism. His best-known works include ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’, ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’, ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’, and ‘Jude the Obscure’.