Desperate Remedies - Penguin Classics
“The chief pleasure connected with asking an opinion lies in not adopting it.” Desperate Remedies, 1871
Thomas Hardy's first published novel 'Desperate Remedies' tells the tale of Cytherea Graye forced by poverty to take a position as a lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe. On discovering that the young architect she loves is engaged to another she accepts the hand of Aeneas Manston, Miss Aldclyffe’s illegitimate son, whose first wife supposedly died in a fire. On publication the novel was criticised for its sensationalism due to its themes of bigamy, murder, illegitimacy, blackmail and impersonation, however Hardy's depiction of country life and insight into psychology and sexuality bears testament to the writer's genius.
Paperback 1998
512 pages
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