Author: Thomas Hardy
Publisher: Wordsworth Classics
Publication Date: 2010 (1871)
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
Genre: Classics
Source: Bought Copy
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. (Goodreads Synopsis)
I have read most of Hardy's work, but had not yet tried this, his first offering. I really enjoyed it from start to finish. As the description suggests, there are hints of Wilkie Collins in the story line, but in the prose you can see glimpses of what will become Hardy's strong descriptive style. The plot itself, while indeed sensational, is gripping and I was also keen to pick the book up again each night and see what would happen next.
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