This "is the sunniest and least brooding of Hardy's great novels. The strong-minded Bathsheba Everdene--and the devoted shepherd, obsessed farmer, and dashing soldier who vie for her favor--move through a late nineteenth-century agrarian landscape, still almost untouched by the Industrial Revolution and the encroachment of modern life"--Amazon.com.

Emilienne's life is Paradise, her isolated farm at the end of a winding path. After the sudden death of her daughter and son-in-law, this is where she farms alone, with her courage and her land as her only resources, along with her two little grandchildren: Blanche and Gabriel. As seasons pass, Blanche grows older and develops an even stronger connection to her home and the generations of women who have guarded it, like her mother and grandmother...