This
beautifully written novel about a few weeks in the life of the author
Thomas Hardy is a work of fiction based on fact. The story itself
concerns Hardy, his second wife, Florence, and an amateur actress,
Gertrude Bugler; the background is Dorset; and the season is winter.
The style itself is reminiscent of Hardy's own books.
During
a cold, bleak winter in the mid-twenties, Hardy, eighty-four, is
coming to terms with his approaching death; Florence, almost forty
years younger, is wallowing in a sea of neurotic self-pity; while
Gertrude, twenty-six, happily married with a small baby, is looking
forward to playing the leading role in a
London production of Tess of
the D'Urbervilles.
The construction
of the book
moves between the
thoughts,
dreams and anxieties of each of these
three characters - Hardy (in the third person) and Florence and
Gertrude (in the first person).
Hardy
is captivated by Gertrude, who is a flawless representation of the
character of Tess as he has always imagined her. He may
regret
the age difference,
but he
completely
accepts
Shelley's
theory of the ideal woman
and how, during one's life, this woman can
reappear in numerous guises.
Hardy is not necessarily in love with the physical Gertrude but more
with the essence of the girl
- an essence that he has experienced many times (if sometimes
fleetingly).
Florence,
however, is
too focused
on her wasted and miserable life
to even begin to understand her husband's fascination. Instead she
complains about trees and cold and interminable damp and
instigates the tragic climax of the story.
This
is a wonderful book and, especially for fans of Thomas Hardy, is a
definite must-read.
Photo of Hardy and Florence from The New York Times.
Photo of Christopher Nicholson from Amazon UK