Thomas Hardy was a landscape novelist who painted enduring pictures of the real outdoor world which formed the stage upon which his characters acted out their tragic lives. This book consists of a series of walks through Hardy's landscapes based upon the texts of his novels, including The Return of the Native, Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Woodlanders, and incorporating excerpts from many of Hardy's poems. This book allows the reader to appreciate not only the beauty and wonder of the natural world but also the unique contribution that Thomas Hardy has made to our ability to interpret that world. Hardy's landscapes are at once specific and general; based on real places and scenes, but purposefully distanced and disguised. The author argues that Hardy's Wessex is the outward extension of a remarkably narrow territory—with many of his locations lying very close to the thatched cottage on Egdon Heath where Hardy was born—thus calling into question a number of accepted identifications and proposing new ones. Follow in the footsteps of Jude, Tess, and Clym and a host of other Hardyan characters and so live and breathe the very essence of Thomas Hardy's world.