Thomas Hardy

A Rural Painting of the Dutch School

Under the Greenwood Tree

Under the Greenwood Tree is Hardy's most bright, confident and optimistic novel. This delightful portrayal of a picturesque rural society, tinged with gentle humour and quiet irony, established Hardy as a writer.

Barbara Williford

I’m a huge Hardy fan but this one was just meh. It passed the time but wasn’t engaging for me. The characters were superficial, the jealousy and back and forth between the main characters was tiresome and tedious. I read to escape reality and this was like watching a reality show.

A story of love and passion tinged with melancholy for a disappearing rural world, Under the Greenwood Tree evokes life in the village of Mellstock. When two newcomers arrive in the village they both create a furore - the Reverend Maybold by bringing modern ways to the church choir, and the schoolteacher Fancy Day by stealing the hearts of three men. Hardy's gentle, pastoral early novel introduced readers to his fictional county of Wessex for the first time.

香玫

Fancy Day was the OG manic pixie dream girl

Dick Dewy lives in the village of Upper Mellstock. He sings in the choir with his father and grandfather. Then one day a new school teacher, Fancy Day, comes to the village. Soon Dick Dewy is in love with her, but so are Mr. Shiner and Mr. Maybold. Who will Fancy Day choose? A Penguin Reader Level 2 with a vocabulary of 600 words.

Isa s

I was really looking forward to reading this book, because it sounded like a sweet little piece of literature to read in-between the more heavy works I had scheduled for this season. In the end it turned out to fulfil my expectations, but I did have a few problems getting into the book. I first tried to read it but soon realized that this is one of the books where I’m better off listening to the audiobook (another reason why I love public domain book: most are available as free audiobook on LibriVox, so no need to actually buy two editions of the same book). Once I changed formats on the book I began to enjoy it. Dick Dewey’s story of falling in love with Fancy Day and how their relationship developed is really sweet to listen to.
The LibriVox audiobook is narrated by Rachel Lintern. I wasn’t too impressed by her narration in the beginning and have certainly listened to better voices on LibriVox, but she doesn’t do a bad job, either.

A portrayal of a picturesque rural society, tinged with gentle humour and irony, it is Hardy's most bright, confident and optimistic novel.

Under the Greenwood Tree, Or, the Mellstock Quire

Maryam Hasan

Eloise

Lily

Susan Beddes

A pastoral work telling of the struggle of the Mellstock Quire, a group of country church musicians, against the threat of their replacement by a single organist. It also tells of the love of Fancy Day and Dick Dewy.

Under the Greenwood Tree A Rural Painting of the Dutch School