Far from the Madding Crowd

"It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs."

-Thomas Hardy

Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. The novel is the first to be set in Thomas Hardy's Wessex in rural southwest England.

It deals in themes of love, honour and betrayal, against a backdrop of the seemingly idyllic, but often harsh, realities of a farming community in Victorian England. It describes the life and relationships of Bathsheba Everdene with her lonely neighbour William Boldwood, the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, and the thriftless soldier Sergeant Troy. On publication, critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive. Hardy revised the text extensively for the 1895 edition and made further changes for the 1901 edition.

In 2003, the novel was listed at number 48 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. In 2007, the book finished 10th on the Guardian's list of greatest love stories of all time.