📖 Far from the Madding Crowd: Stage 5

First published in 1874, this novel was an immediate bestseller. The story takes place in the fields and farms of the quiet English countryside, when harvests were gathered by hand, when carts were pulled by horses, and when people's lives followed the pattern of the changing seasons. That quiet rural world has long since gone, of course, but the passions that rule people's lives have not changed. Within the everlasting circle of springtime and harvest, love burns as fiercely, as uncontrollably, as ever. The beautiful Bathsheba Everdene has her own farm and does not need to marry. But she cannot fight off love for ever. There is the shepherd, Gabriel Oak, whose love for Bathsheba is quiet and steady. There is Farmer Boldwood, a serious, middle-aged man, who has never been in love before. And there is Sergeant Troy, a handsome young soldier in his bright red coat... Bathsheba is self-confident and independent, but she has much to learn about the violent passions of love.