The Hand Of Ethelberta (Annotated)

This edition incorporates an original introduction from Moorside Press, including a biography, a critical discussion of Hardy's place in the history of British Literature and a short contextual discussion of the book.. Published in 1876 as a serial in the Cornhill Magazine, The Hand of Ethelberta was Hardy's fifth novel in print. The plot concerns the eponymous heroin and her choices for a second husband following the death of the first. That marriage left her well off and also in the comfortable position of having a benefactress - the elderly mother of the deceased - but now she is faced with four viable suitors and an independent streak that makes her choice all the more difficult.. While noting the poor background of Ethelberta, the novel still marks something of a departure for Hardy in that it deals more with a higher stratum of social life than many of his other novels. That said, the essence of the narrative and the structure of the plot remain true to form.