A Group of Noble Dames

Thomas Hardy

Read by Libby Gohn

(4.3 stars; 33 reviews)

The pedigrees of our county families, arranged in diagrams on the pages of county histories, mostly appear at first sight to be as barren of any touch of nature as a table of logarithms. But given a clue—the faintest tradition of what went on behind the scenes, and this dryness as of dust may be transformed into a palpitating drama. Out of such pedigrees and supplementary material most of the following stories have arisen and taken shape. (Summary adapted from the preface) (6 hr 52 min)