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Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd
Jan 11, 2026 11:49 AM

Author:Thomas Hardy,Olivia Vinall,Rosemarie Morgan,Karen Cass

Far from the Madding Crowd

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Olivia Vinall, who is known for her roles in Apple Tree Yard and The Woman in White. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Rosemarie Morgan.

Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of swiftpassion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.

(c) 1874, Thomas Hardy (P) 2019 Penguin Audio

Reviews

Fans of dystopian fiction will enjoy this pulsating new YA novel from bestselling author James Patterson . . . Patterson is second to none when it comes to writing pacy thrillers and this one has got the lot - an intriguing plot, exciting action and a captivating lead character

—— Independent

A fast-moving, multi-stranded, hugely entertaining story that brings the world of Maximum Ride back with a bang

—— Keighley News

We were hooked until the very end. 8/10

—— Indy Best

... A fast-paced, action-packed read, ideal for fans of the original series

—— Publishers Weekly

Beautifully written… [and] at times even made me laugh out loud

—— Institute of Engineering and Technology

Propulsive . . . brilliantly vivid . . . stays in the mind long after reading

—— Irish Times

Absolutely brilliant . . . touchingly captures the awkward, aching longing of a misfit . . . darkly funny

—— Express

Wonderfully shocking . . . a stunning, original debut.

—— Irish Examiner

Fundamentally intimate . . . beguiling . . . A novel about being normal that is anything but.

—— Irish Independent

Terrific... astute, tender, raw... very funny

—— Metro

elevating the ordinary with luscious prose . . . [Tennis Lessons] gives us the magical ability of seeing this tired old world with brand new eyes. What an invaluable gift, and what a beautiful book.

—— Culturefly

Gently comic and compassionate

—— Independent

Recalling the grotesque of Christine Schutt and Deborah Levy, Susannah Dickey’s Tennis Lessons is an achingly vital novel, a work of blood and flesh, convulsing in the heat of mortality.

—— Kevin Breathnach

Dickey scorchingly captures the awkward, aching longing of a misfit...shot through with honesty

—— Psychologies

So compelling . . . darkly funny . . . a powerful account of a girl becoming a woman.

—— Hot Press

A fresh-eyed read. It's funny and honest, brutally so, and every so often sneaks up and punches you right in the guts. It's the kind of book you read in one furious sitting, then find yourself mulling over for weeks to come. Susannah Dickey's got a strange and sublime way of seeing the world.

—— Jan Carson

Tennis Lessons is a singular creation - a vivid, funny, emotionally intelligent dissection of an ordinary life.

—— Nicole Flattery

Effective and pacy.

—— Strong words

"A dictionary as an unreliable narrator" is a device used here in clever ways ... Those familiar with Williams's writing won't be surprised to find that her characters are also in love with words ... Williams's sentences rarely stall; they move between conventional and innovative forms, and her novel is no less original for that.

—— Times Literary Supplement

The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams (William Heinemann), which continues the lexicographical playfulness of her short stories, is a singularly charming jeu d'esprit about two people a century apart doing the difficult, essential work of defining words and defining themselves.

—— The Guardian

[I]t's a sunny, breezy smile of a book [...] it's a lovely, lovely book which we read in a single sitting. If you liked The Surgeon of Crowthorne or even Leonard and Hungry Paul we think you'll get an almighty kick out of this. Max Porter described Williams' debut Attrib, thus "I love it in a way I usually reserve for people" - we feel the same way about The Liar's Dictionary.

—— Bookmunch

With its historical and contemporary settings, rounded relatable characters, and a plot to which one could even give spoilers, [...] The Liar's Dictionary is recognisably a Proper Novel. [...] The tricky courtship of word and world, and how a book might hold a world, is essentially the theme of all dictionary fiction. The Liar's Dictionary, an invaluable additionto that odd canon, ends up - I think - being all about one word, one that James Joyce (an encyclopaediac himself) called "the word known to all," the word love.

—— The Quietus

[A] wry, charming debut novel ... Ruminating on and revelling in the English language, this warm-hearted novel is a thoughtful, funny delight.

—— Tatler

If searching for the answers to human uncertainties by crystallising them in definitions is 'like trapping butterflies under glass,' the beating of Williams' words against the pages is anything but: these words are playfully free.

—— Totally Dublin

Filled with humour and sparkling moments of insight, it's a book that celebrates the delights of language whilst the characters struggle to find their place in the world that exists beyond word definitions.

—— Citizen Femme
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