Trumpet-Major - Hardcover

Hardy, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333168909 ISBN 13: 9780333168905

Publisher: Macmillan Pub Ltd, 1990

Synopsis

Hardy, Thomas. The Trumpet-Major: John Loveday, A Soldier in the War with Buonaparte and Robert his Brother. Preface by Thomas Hardy. Introduction by Paul I. Webb. Wood Engravings by Peter Reddick. London, The Folio Society, 1990. 15 cm x 23 cm. XVI, 314 pages. Original, illustrated hardcover with gilt lettering on spine. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Clean inside with solid binding. The Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel. It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. Unusually for a Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters. The novel is set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars; the town was then anxious about the possibility of invasion by Napoleon. Of the two brothers, John fights with Wellington in the Peninsular War, and Bob serves with Nelson at Trafalgar. The Napoleonic Wars was a setting that Hardy would use again in his play, The Dynasts, and it borrows from the same source material. Edward Neill has called the novel an attempt to repeat the success of his earlier work Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), after the limited success of his intervening works. The book is unusual for being the only one of novels for which he wrote preliminary notes, in a pocket book traditionally labelled as 'The Trumpet-Major Notebook'. It is also perhaps extraordinary in the extent to which Hardy aimed for historical accuracy; to that end, he conducted research at the British Museum and consulted various periodicals and newspaper accounts of the time. Richard H. Taylor has noted the accuracy of Hardy's details in the novel. (Wikipedia)

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Hardy was a poet and novelist of the naturalist movement. He trained as an architect. He was a religious man who was also deeply influenced by Darwin and fascinated by ghosts and spirits.During his lifetime, he was best known for his novels. His stories combine nuanced description of natural surroundings with the sense of impending moral crisis. He claimed that poetry was his first love, though, and in recent years his poetry has received much critical acclaim.

From AudioFile

Hearkening back to the Wessex of an earlier Napoleonic period, Hardy's novel creates a homely world of likeable, though sometimes dull folk, anxious to get on with the business of falling in love despite the threat of imminent landing by the French. With a seemingly infinite range of voices Benjamin Whitrow recreates each of them as only this trained English actor could. Hardy and Whitrow combine to create a world of charming local types: the gentle miller and his two sons; the crude but scheming Festus Derriman and his delightfully miserly uncle, old farmer Derriman; and the beautiful object of all their attentions, sweet Anne Garland. For readers used to Hardy's star-crossed characters, this romance is a delightful discovery. P.A.J. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0333168909
• ISBN 13: 9780333168905
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352