Grace Melbury, the only daughter of a timber-merchant, arrives home in Little Hintock after an expensive education and her father looks to find a husband for her. There are two rivals for her hand: Giles Winterborne, a good-hearted yeoman and her childhood sweetheart, and Edred Fitzpiers, an ambitious young doctor of good family. Fitzpiers wins her, but the mismatch brings unhappiness not just to the young couple, but to a wider circle in the woodland community. ‘The Woodlanders’ is one of Hardy’s most powerful works and the one he liked best. With brooding sexual undertones, it addresses themes about which the author held strong views – the laws of divorce, the inequalities of society, and the uncertainty of land tenure.


木材商獨生女葛雷斯．玫柏里在結束學費昂貴的學業後，返回位於小辛塔克的家，她父親正著手為她準備婚事。兩位男士對她展開積極追求，其中一位是葛雷斯的青梅竹馬、心地善良的自耕農吉爾．溫特伯恩，另一位則是家世良好、野心勃勃的年輕醫生艾德里．費茲皮爾，而最後費茲皮爾獲得了芳心。然而，錯誤的結合不僅帶給兩人痛苦，甚至影響到整個林地社區。《林地居民》是哈代 (Thamos Hardy) 最具影響力的作品之一，也是他本人最鍾愛的作品。透過令人不安的性暗示，本書道出離婚相關法律、社會不平與土地所有權制等議題，也傳達出哈代本人對上述議題的堅定信念。