Physical description

A Group of Noble Dames
Author: Thomas Hardy
Publisher: Macmillan And Co
Date: 1894
Further Information: Olive hardcover and spine with spine lettering in gold. The spine has a Library label with inscription.

Publication type

non-fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on the spine cover with typed text PAT 823.8 HAR
Paste down front end paper has a sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library.
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Corangamite Regional Library Service.
Flyleaf has a stamp from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library.

Summary

The subject novel A Group of Noble Dames is a collection of ten historical short stories bound together by a classic frame narrative. The premise is that to escape the boredom of a rainy day, ten male members of the "Wessex Field and Antiquarian Club" gather together. To pass the time, each member including a local historian, an old surgeon, a rural dean, and a churchwarden takes a turn telling a scandalous, tragic, or ironic tale about a high-born lady from the local aristocracy of the 17th and 18th centuries. Unlike Hardy's deeply somber major novels, he categorized these stories as "Romances and Fantasies." However, they still contain classic Hardyan cynicism.