Regrettably, this book was so unspeakably boring. I now understand why no bookstore in the land carries any copies of it. I guess Thomas Hardy had to concentrate all the absolute madness of plot twists in "Jude" and "Tess” so he just kept this book as basic as possible. Took so long to read for such a little book. All the characters are flat as flapjacks and the only interesting thing happens 20 pages from the end — nothing ever comes of it.