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The Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy

The Return of the Native

Thomas Hardy

51 chapters · ~141,753 words · Challenging · Downloaded 2,442 times on Gutenberg in the last 30 days · Source

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"The Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy is a novel published in 1878. Set entirely on the wild Egdon Heath over the span of a year, it follows the intertwined fates of several characters trapped by passion and circumstance. When Clym Yeobright returns from Paris, the beautiful but restless Eustacia Vye sees him as her escape from the desolate heath. Their marriage sets off a chain of events involving thwarted desires, family estrangement, and fateful misunderstandings that will test everyone's loyalties and dreams. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Summary from Project Gutenberg's catalogue data.

  1. 1The Return of the Native3,245 chars
  2. 2Chapter 2266 chars
  3. 3PREFACE949 chars
  4. 4BOOK FIRST—THE THREE WOMEN8,670 chars
  5. 5II. Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble12,025 chars
  6. 6III. The Custom of the Country41,100 chars
  7. 7IV. The Halt on the Turnpike Road9,557 chars
  8. 8V. Perplexity among Honest People24,279 chars
  9. 9VI. The Figure against the Sky27,164 chars
  10. 10VII. Queen of Night13,628 chars
  11. 11VIII. Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody9,686 chars
  12. 12IX. Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy19,604 chars
  13. 13X. A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion17,327 chars
  14. 14XI. The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman16,234 chars
  15. 15BOOK SECOND—THE ARRIVAL9,507 chars
  16. 16II. The People at Blooms-End Make Ready8,581 chars
  17. 17III. How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream9,035 chars
  18. 18IV. Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure19,005 chars
  19. 19V. Through the Moonlight13,443 chars
  20. 20VI. The Two Stand Face to Face22,457 chars
  21. 21VII. A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness16,973 chars
  22. 22VIII. Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart18,649 chars
  23. 23BOOK THIRD—THE FASCINATION9,783 chars
  24. 24II. The New Course Causes Disappointment16,784 chars
  25. 25III. The First Act in a Timeworn Drama26,746 chars
  26. 26IV. An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness14,675 chars
  27. 27V. Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues13,411 chars
  28. 28VI. Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete13,748 chars
  29. 29VII. The Morning and the Evening of a Day26,802 chars
  30. 30VIII. A New Force Disturbs the Current14,439 chars
  31. 31BOOK FOURTH—THE CLOSED DOOR13,209 chars
  32. 32II. He Is Set upon by Adversities but He Sings a Song19,563 chars
  33. 33III. She Goes Out to Battle against Depression23,807 chars
  34. 34IV. Rough Coercion Is Employed14,122 chars
  35. 35V. The Journey across the Heath9,219 chars
  36. 36VI. A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian19,958 chars
  37. 37VII. The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends14,918 chars
  38. 38VIII. Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil14,934 chars
  39. 39BOOK FIFTH—THE DISCOVERY14,815 chars
  40. 40II. A Lurid Light Breaks in upon a Darkened Understanding17,828 chars
  41. 41III. Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning14,456 chars
  42. 42IV. The Ministrations of a Half-forgotten One9,372 chars
  43. 43V. An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated12,523 chars
  44. 44VI. Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter12,416 chars
  45. 45VII. The Night of the Sixth of November16,785 chars
  46. 46VIII. Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers19,674 chars
  47. 47IX. Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together21,598 chars
  48. 48BOOK SIXTH—AFTERCOURSES18,075 chars
  49. 49II. Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road5,919 chars
  50. 50III. The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin9,998 chars
  51. 51IV. Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation20,629 chars