Under the Greenwood Tree
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One of the most popular of HardyтАЩs novels, this charming pastoral idyll is a lightly humorous depiction of life in an early Victorian rural community. Drawn from HardyтАЩs childhood memories, it represents, he said, тАЬa true picture at first hand of the personages, ways, and customs which were common in the villages.тАЭ
The story delicately balances the concerns of the Mellstock parish choir with a romance between Dick Dewy, a member of the choir, and Fancy Day, the village schoolmistress. While the choir battles for its survival against the new vicarтАЩs mechanical church organ, personal conflicts arise over the anachronistic customs of tradition.
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Thomas Hardy (1840тАУ1928), English poet, dramatist, and novelist, was born on the Egdon Heath in Dorset. He studied in Dorchester and apprenticed to an architect before leaving for London, where he began to write. Unable to find a public for his poetry, which idealized the rural life, he turned to the novel and met with success as well as controversy. The strong public reaction against some of his darker themes turned him back to writing verse. Today several of his novels are considered masterpieces of tragedy.
Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named BooklistтАЩs very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.
