The Return of the Native

In the barren moor of Egdon Heath, a wild tract of country in the south-west of England, one native yearns to escape to city life while another native returns from that life, unimpressed. Clym Yeobright, a former diamond merchant in Paris, returns home to become a schoolmaster in Egdon, where he falls passionately in love with the sensuous, free-spirited Eustacia Vye. She, infatuated with his seeming glamour, marries him in hopes of greater adventure. But when her hopes are disappointed, she rekindles an affair with Clyms reckless cousin, Damon. Injured by forces beyond their control, Hardys characters struggle vainly in the net of destiny. In the end, only the face of the lonely heath remains untouched by fate in this masterpiece of tragic passion, which perfectly epitomizes the authors melancholy genius. This is the quality Hardy shares with the great writers…this setting behind the small action the terrific action of unfathomed nature. D. H. Lawrence