{"product_id":"2026770002023-secondhand-wessex-tales","title":"Wessex Tales","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good                          \u003cbr\u003eJacket: N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good                  \u003cbr\u003eMarkings: No markings\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA masterwork of Victorian short fiction, Wessex Tales presents Thomas Hardy's richly atmospheric collection of stories set against the rural landscapes of his beloved fictional county of Wessex. Each tale chronicles the lives of ordinary country folk — soldiers, milkmaids, smugglers, and farmers — caught in the grip of fate, social convention, and the unrelenting passage of time. Hardy's prose carries a brooding, elegiac tone, weaving together local legend and human tragedy with the precision of a writer who understood rural England from the inside out. Stories such as The Three Strangers, The Withered Arm, and The Distracted Preacher illustrate his gift for building suspense and moral complexity within deceptively simple narratives. First published in 1888, the collection stands as an essential introduction to Hardy's fictional world and a testament to his enduring power as a storyteller.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48839384203483,"sku":"2026770002023-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/a45a2cce-80cd-4571-8dbf-c7d277470d75.png?v=1780561163","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026770002023-secondhand-wessex-tales","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}