Far from the Madding Crowd

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

The victor belongs to the spoils.

Anthony and Gloria Patch are the bright lights of the 1920s New York smart set and lead a life of luxury, idleness and indulgence. But Jazz Age glamour comes at a price and, with Anthony's inheritance uncertain, the couple's decadent lifestyle begins to fall apart. Anthony is unable to hold down a job, and the couple descend into alcoholism and depression as their finances and marriage collapse. Fitzgerald's captivating tale of squandered talent is the classic account of the so-called Lost Generation.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
‘One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.’
Revealing the truths and realities about Irish society in the early 20th century, Joyce’s Dubliners challenged the prevailing image of Dublin at the time. A group portrait made up of 15 short stories about the inhabitants of Joyce’s native city, he offers a subtle critique of his own town, imbuing the text with an underlying tone of tragedy. Through his various characters he displays the complicated relationships, hardships and mundane details of everyday life and the desire for escape – a yearning that so closely mirrored his own experiences.

"I’m an outsider to the end of my days!"

Jude Fawley’s hopes of a university education are lost when he is trapped into marrying the earthy Arabella, who later abandons him. Moving to the town of Christminster where he finds work as a stonemason, Jude meets and falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead, a sensitive, freethinking "New Woman." Refusing to marry merely for the sake of religious convention, Jude and Sue decide instead to live together, but they are shunned by society and poverty soon threatens to ruin them. Jude the Obscure, Hardy’s last novel, caused a public furor when it was first published, with its fearless and challenging exploration of class and sexual relationships.

This edition uses the unbowdlerized text of the first volume edition of 1895, and also includes a list for further reading, appendices and a glossary. In his introduction, Dennis Taylor examines biblical allusions and the critique of religion in Jude the Obscure, and its critical reception that led Hardy to abandon novel writing.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.