Why a Booktrail?
1870s: The beauty of Egdon Heath is brought to life..
The Return of the Native
What you need to know before your trail
The novel takes place entirely in and around Egdon Heath
On Guy Fawkes Night Diggory Venn is slowly crossing the heath with his horse drawn van. fires are being lit all around him.
Venn travels the country supplying farmers with a red mineral they use to mark their sheep.He himself is stained red. In the van with him, is Thomasin, who is running from trouble. Venn grows to love her.
Thomasin however had promised to marry Damon Wildeve,but there was trouble. Her aunt wants her to marry the man she left behind.
Wildeve however wants someone else And that’s when the real problems start…
Travel Guide
Hardy Country – “Wessex”, Dorchester, Higher Bockhampton
Hardy described his landscape “Wessex” and in Far from the Madding Crowd describes his country as the “partly real, partly dream-country” that unifies his South West England
The village of Puddletown, near Dorchester, is the inspiration for the novel’s Weatherbury. Dorchester, in turn, is said to have inspired Hardy’s Casterbridge which appears in The Major of Casterbridge
True Hardy Fans should also visit Higher Bockhampton as this is where the literary man was born
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Return of the Native
Author/Guide: Thomas Hardy Destination: “Wessex” , Dorchester Departure Time: 187os
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
