The Guarded Life challenges some of the long-held views of Hardy - did he spend all his early life in preparation for his career as a writer, and did his novels really come a distant second to his poetry in his heart? In his personal life, did his first wife, Emma Hardy, really trick him into marriage and was she the ambitious women her enemies have painted her as being? And what of Florence, his second wife, who has so often been caricatured in her conflicted and passionate feelings for Hardy?
By examining the relationships and contexts that shaped Hardy most - the women, the friendships and mentors, the social and family pressures, the career structures and the Dorsetshire landscape - The Guarded Life reveals the personality and emotional life of a public figure who has despite his fame remained until now largely obscure.
- ISBN10 033048186X
- ISBN13 9780330481861
- Publish Date 16 June 2006
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 26 March 2010
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Imprint Picador
- Edition Abridged edition
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 528
- Language English