Thomas Hardy

The Time-Torn Man

Claire Tomalin

Thomas Hardy's novels are loved by millions of readers, but he was first and foremost a poet. He wrote around one thousand moving and deeply personal poems during his lifetime, tracing his experiences of life and love. This collection, selected and introduced by Claire Tomalin, provides rich insight into Hardy's thoughts and emotions, and is central to the understanding of the man and his work. Divided into sections that move through the contours of Hardy's life - the English countryside in which he walked and the astonishing burst of creativity that followed the death of his estranged wife, Emma - this collection is essential for all those who love Hardy.

This seminal biography covers Hardy's illegitimate birth, his rural upbringing, his escape to London in the 1860s, his marriages, his status as a bestselling novelist, and in later life, his supreme achievements as a poet.

First published:: 2006
Published by:: Penguin Press
Length:: Hardcover 486 pages

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About the author

Claire Tomalin has worked in publishing and journalism all her life, becoming literary editor first of the New Statesman and then of the Sunday Times. She has written six highly acclaimed biographies most recently Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Life. Her books have won the Whitbread Book of the Year Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Biography, the Whitbread First Book Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the NCR Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography. Claire Tomalin lives in London and is married to the playwright and novelist, Michael Frayn.