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The Hand of Ethelberta

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The Hand of Ethelberta
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Thomas Hardy
Edited by Tim Dolin
Introduction by Tim Dolin
Notes by Tim Dolin
Preface by Patricia Ingham
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:512
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129
Category/GenreClassic fiction (pre c 1945)
ISBN/Barcode 9780140435023
ClassificationsDewey:823.8
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publication Date 31 July 1997
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Hardy's London society comedy, and one of the most engaging and important of his early experiments in fiction. Adventuress and opportunist, Ethelberta reinvents herself to disguise her humble origins, launching a brilliant career as a society poet in London with her family acting incognito as her servants. Turning the male-dominated literary world to her advantage, she happily exploits the attentions of four very different suitors. Will she bestow her hand upon the richest of them, or on the man she loves? Ethelberta Petherwin, alias Berta Chickerel, moves with easy grace between her multiple identities, cleverly managing a tissue of lies to aid her meteoric rise. In The Hand of Ethelberta (1876), Hardy drew on conventions of popular romances, illustrated weeklies, plays, fashion plates and even his wife's diary in this comic story of a woman in control of her destiny.

Author Biography

Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. His most famous works are Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895). TIM DOLIN teaches English at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. He is also editor of the Penguin edition of Under the Greenwood Tree.

Reviews

"The Hand of Ethelberta is ... a portrait of two artists - Ethelberta Petherwin and Thomas Hardy ..." --Tim Dolin