The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy; my copy published by Macmillan, 1974

I first read this book and others by Hardy on working visits to Siguenza, Spain in the time of Franco.
The coolness and shade of the Dorset countryside: its woods, shady paths and umbriferous hedgerows were havens on the brightly hot and dry afternoons of a Spanish summer. Re-reading recently, in winter after many years, was entirely different.

I was surprised how handy woodland is for an author. In a wood you can come across any character the author wishes you to meet because people stroll out for pleasure. In the evening especially but not only. They must also walk to travel about the local area. In the woods they also overhear each other!! Things they are not supposed to overhear. They also come upon unlikely pairs of each other and so take a different path to be discreet.



The morals of the times

Hardy was writing about reminded me of a later England at least in the North East until the sixties shook everything loose. One of the characters sleeps outdoors in the rain, while a few yards away the girl he loves sleeps dry in an unused forestry worker's shelter. Although they plan to get married, he cannot bring himself to compromise her reputation by sleeping under the same roof until they are wed. He d.....
No, read the book!

I enjoyed the experience much more when I read it the first time - in hot sun! And in the same conditions I enjoyed Under the Greenwood Tree and Jude the Obscure by the same author. But you have to read them under bright skies.
The end
The word in bold text above 'umbriferous'  (= shady) just sounded right for the period and place. Sorry about that.