The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy

n'To be loved to madness - such was her great desire' nEustacia Vye criss-crosses the wild Egdon Heath, eager to experience life to the full in her quest for 'music, poetry, passion, war'. She marries Clym Yeobright, native of the heath, but his idealism frustrates her romantic ambitions and her discontent draws others into a tangled web of deceit and nunhappiness. n nEarly readers responded to Hardy's 'insatiably observant' descriptions of the heath, a setting that for D. H. Lawrence provided the 'real stuff of tragedy'. For modern readers, the tension between the mythic setting of the heath and the modernity of the characters challenges our freedom to shape nthe world as we wish; like Eustacia, we may not always be able to live our dreams. n nThis edition has a critically established text based on the manuscript and first edition, and without the later changes that substantially altered Hardy's original intentions. n nAbout the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert nintroductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. nn