Far from the Madding Crowd

The novel Far from the Madding Crowd is the first to be set in Hardy's fictional region of Wessex in rural south west England. It deals in themes of love, honor and betrayal, against a backdrop of the seemingly idyllic, but often harsh, realities of a farming community in Victorian England. It describes the farmer Bathsheba Everdene, her life and relationships – especially with her lonely neighbor William Boldwood, the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, and the thriftless soldier Sergeant Troy.