In this novel, the author describes the natural and the spiritual essence of man. In Hardy's books, there are many faces of human nature. Some perceive his work as "masterpieces of romance," while others - like pamphlets against caste inequality. It is known, that the Bishop of the Church of England made a public burning of one of his books as a violation of the moral creed of the society. This novel plunges the readers into the atmosphere of rural England. Small village Hintock was the place of the novel's action. It was so small that it could hardly found in a thicket of forest edge but exactly, there were played tragedies of "true greatness of Sophocles." The cause of these tragedies was a clash of natural human characters that were preserved in a conservation of wilderness of rural England. Read it till the end to know the whole story!