Works Of Thomas Hardy Volume 15 Desperate Remedies Paperbound

PREFATORY NOTE The following story, the first published by the author, was written nineteen years ago, at a time when he was feeling his way to a method. The principles observed in its composition are, no doubt, too exclusively those in which mystery, entanglement, surprise, and moral obliquity are depended on for exciting interest; but some of the scenes, and at least one of the characters, have been deemed not unworthy of a little longer preservation; and as they could hardly be reproduced in a fragmentary form the novel is reissued complete—the more readily that it has for some considerable time been reprinted and widely circulated in America. January 1889. To the foregoing note I have only to add that, in the present edition of 'Desperate Remedies,' some Wessex towns and other places that are common to the scenes of several of these stories have been called for the first time by the names under which they appear elsewhere, for the satisfaction of any reader who may care for consistency in such matters. This is the only material change; for, as it happened that certain characteristics which provoked most discussion in my latest story were present in this my first—published in 1871, when there was no French name for them it has seemed best to let them stand unaltered. T.H. February 1896.

Desperate Remedies is a novel that was published in 1871 by Thomas Hardy. Cytherea has taken the role of the quirky Miss Aldclyffe as a lady's maid. Cytherea falls under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's manipulating steward Manston when she learns that the man she loves, Edward Springrove, is already engaged to his cousin. Among the components of Hardy's first written book are extortion, murder, and romance. It still carries the unmistakable imprint of Hardy's excellence in its portrayal of country life and insight into psychology and sexuality.

Desperate Remedies is the second novel by Thomas Hardy, albeit the first to be published. It was released anonymously by Tinsley Brothers in 1871.Described by Hardy as a tale of "mystery, entanglement, surprise and moral obliquity", his first published novel violated the literary decorum of its day with blackmail, murder, and romance. It relates the story of Cytherea, a maid to the eccentric arch-intriguer Miss Aldclyffe, and the man she loves, Edward Springrove. Upon discovering that Edward is already engaged, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's fascinating, manipulative steward, Manston.