 The Fiddler of the Reels and Other Stories
by Thomas Hardy
Three first-rate short stories include the romantic title piece, the comic "The Distracted Preacher," and "The Three Strangers," a tribute to community life. Highly readable and accessible intro to Hardy's fiction.
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| |  Cranford
by Elizabeth Gaskell
A sensitive and moving portrait of life and manners in an English country village during the 1830s, Cranford recounts the events and activities in the lives of a group of spinsters and widows.
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 Far from the Madding Crowd
by Thomas Hardy
This tale of a passionate, independent woman and her three suitors explores Hardy's trademark themes: thwarted love, the inevitability of fate, and the encroachment of industrial society on rural life.
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| |  Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy
Hardy's novel about the trials of a poor stonemason excoriates convention — particularly the institutions of marriage, religion, and education — in a pioneering work of feminism and socialist thought.
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 The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy
A drunken laborer sells his wife and child and spends his life trying to atone for his wrongdoing — while clinging to his social status. Hardy's timeless tale offers a spellbinding portrayal of ambition, rivalry, revenge, and repentance.
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| |  Almayer's Folly
by Joseph Conrad
Conrad's first novel recounts the struggles of a Dutch merchant whose dreams are undermined by his own greed and prejudice. It is the tale of a man's inability to escape his self-delusion and of the tragic results.
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 Lord Jim
by Joseph Conrad
A young ship's officer abandons his imperiled vessel and its passengers only to survive and face scorn, guilt, and his own need for atonement. Inexpensive, unabridged edition. Author's Note.
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| |  Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
Classic story of wasted lives, set against a bleak New England background. Superbly delineated characters in a hauntingly grim tale of thwarted love. Considered by many to be Wharton's masterpiece.
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