Hardy described Desperate Remedies as a tale of 'mystery, entanglement, surprise and moral obliquity'.
Cytherea has taken a position as lady's maid to the eccentric arch-intriguer Miss Aldclyffe. On discovering that the man she loves, Edward Springrove, is already engaged to his cousin, Cytherea comes under the influence of Miss Aldclyffe's fascinating, manipulative steward Manston.
Blackmail, murder and romance are among the ingredients of Hardy's first published novel, and in it he draws blithely on the 'sensation novel' perfected by Wilkie Collins. Several perceptive critics praised the author as a novelist with a future when Desperate Remedies appeared anonymously in 1871. In its depiction of country life and insight into psychology and sexuality it already bears the unmistakable imprint of Hardy's genius.
- ISBN10 1408602156
- ISBN13 9781408602157
- Publish Date 26 October 2007 (first published December 1951)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Read Books
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 488
- Language English