"In the close-knit Northern Irish village of Ballybucklebo, it's said that a new baby brings its own welcome. Young doctor Barry Laverty and his wife Sue are anxiously awaiting their first child, but as the community itself prepares to welcome a new decade, the closing months of 1969 bring more than a televised moon landing to Barry, his friends, his neighbors, and his patients, including a number of sticky questions. A fledgling doctor joins the...

In the people and the towns of Wessex, the soul of England is revealed with a keenness of understanding and a vividness of style that is unequaled in fiction. Hardy said of this charming romance, "It is a true picture at first hand of the personages, ways, and customs which were common in the villages of fifty years ago."

Set in the beautiful Blackmoor Vale, The Woodlanders concerns the fortunes of Giles Winterborne, whose love for the well-to-do Grace Melbury is challenged by the arrival of the dashing and dissolute doctor, Edred Fitzpiers.

A "story of quiet life in a secluded English village among well- bred and sheltered women of limited opportunities. Supremely typical of the literature chronicling small-community life. The original of Cranford is the peaceful village of Knutsford in Cheshire England."