Introduction

By 1887, when The Woodlanders appeared, Thomas Hardy, approaching 50, was regarded as the most influential novelist of Victorian England. A gifted storyteller, Hardy created vivid, realistic settings that drew on his childhood in rural Dorset, two hours south of London. His novels—most notably Far from the Madding Crowd (1864), The Return of the Native (1878), and The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)—reflected his sympathies for England’s working class, a vision at once tragic and joyous, sentimental and ironic.

The Woodlanders takes place in a fictional Dorset village whose economic livelihood depends on the woods surrounding it. The novel tells the story of twenty-something Grace Melbury, torn between two men, an earnest apple farmer devoted to her, and a doctor, a flashy cad who coolly plays with her tender heart.

Summary

Volume I

Grace Melbury returns home to the village of Hintock. Her father, George, who made his fortune in timber, was eager to give his daughter every advantage and had sent her off for a year at boarding school.

Years earlier, George vowed that to settle his conscience, Grace would become the wife of the son of a friend George betrayed to marry the woman they both loved. That son, Giles Winterbourne, has grown into a successful apple farmer with a “marvelous power to make trees grow” and has adored Grace since they were children.

Now, however, George sees that with her newfound refinement, Grace could do better than the apple farmer, saying: “Tis a pity to let such a girl throw herself away upon him, a thousand pities.” Determined to impress Grace, Giles hosts a Christmas party to welcome her home. But Giles’ friends—uneducated (and drunk) working-class folk—alarm Grace and her father. George convinces his daughter to promise not to see Giles, although Grace is not sure she wants to abandon him.

When Giles must forfeit ownership of his house through an obscure lease law, the title for his house and its lands transfers to Felice Charmond, a wealthy widow who wants the rich acreage. With Giles homeless, pursuing Grace is out of the question. 

Volume II

When Grace catches a cough, George summons the local doctor, Edred Fitzpiers, a charming narcissist and the last of a once-proud family. Fitzpiers has long been captivated by Grace. George is impressed by the doctor and his “long-established family” and agrees to Fitzpiers’ request to court Grace.

Although not over Giles, Grace, mindful of her father’s wishes, marries Fitzpiers within months—even after a local girl, Suke Damson, warns her that she and Fitzpiers are involved. When Grace confronts Fitzpiers, he lies and says he was merely pulling the girl’s abscessed front tooth. Later, Grace notes that Suke is missing no teeth. 

When Grace and Fitzpiers return from their honeymoon, they move in with Grace’s father. Grace hears that Giles moved into a tiny cottage near his apple orchard. Fitzpiers struggles to build his practice and never quite adjusts to marriage. “A young man may dream of an ideal friend…but some humour of the blood will probably lead him to think rather of an ideal mistress.”

When Felice Charmond takes a spill, she summons the doctor to her manor in nearby Middleton. The injuries are minor, so Mrs. Charmond admits she summoned Fitzpiers because she chanced to see him and remembered a dalliance they shared years earlier in Germany.

They rekindle their “indefinite idle impossible passion.” Fitzpiers lies to Grace about making house calls to cover their dalliances, but she and her father grow suspicious. Grace’s suspicions are confirmed when she finds a toll gate ticket for Middleton, but she is not sure she cares, as Giles has “become revitalized...