'I hate to be thought men's property in that way'. Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her confident presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and when tragedy ensues, the stability of the whole community is threatened. Thomas Hardy's novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.
Tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene, who must choose among three suitors in Wessex in the 1840s.