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A Pair of Blue Eyes Audiobook – Unabridged

Thomas Hardy (Author), Peter Wickham (Narrator), RNIB (Publisher)

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A Pair of Blue Eyes was Thomas Hardy's third published novel.

Written in 1873 it was autobiographical and the heroine Elfride Swancourt is based on Hardy's first wife Emma Gifford. The novel tells the tail of a the love triangle between a young woman, Elfride Swancourt, and her two suitors from very different backgrounds.

Elfride finds herself caught in a battle between her heart, her mind and the expectations of those around her - her parents and society.

Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement.

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

(P)2009 RNIB

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Product details

Audio Download
Listening Length: 15 hours and 13 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: RNIB
Audible.co.uk Release Date: 23 July 2009
Language: English
ASIN: B002SQBC5G
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
- #199 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Fiction > Fiction Classics
- #4773 in Books > Fiction > Classics

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Disappointing

16 August 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Having read and enjoyed several Hardy novels, and reading that he constantly revised this one, I expected a high quality product. In reality, however, this proved to be, in my opinion, the least interesting and his revisions seem to have served only to increase the amount of unnecessary descriptions which inhibit the flow of the narrative. I found 'The woodlanders', 'Far from the Madding Crowd' and 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' to be superior in all aspects.

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Andrew Deakin

The harder realities of putting class above love

2 June 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The central character, Elfride Swancourt, is the victim of social class prejudice, in so far as her vicar father disapproves of her marriage to young architect, Stephen Smith, who is 'merely' the son of a local mason. The elopement of Elfride and Stephen fails and Stephen is obliged to venture to India where he hopes he may reconstruct his prospects.

In a cruel twist of fate, tragedy is brought upon the innocent, rather than on those who would be socially ambitious or fickle in love; for the vicar, still in love with his status in the class hierarchy, marries a rich woman, for advancement. Genuine affection is largely secondary, while in Elfride's case, she is not slow in following her father's ambitions for her to marry the more socially sophisticated Henry Knight, a lawyer and literary reviewer.

Stephen, returning from India and still longing to marry Elfride, discovers he is too late.

What is of key interest is the way all the characters then discover the harder realities caused by their putting a higher value on class status than upon genuine love.

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G. D. Nuzum

a good purchase.

16 November 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As advertised, a good purchase.

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Lindsay

Can't go wrong with Hardy although language different from our ...

8 June 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Can't go wrong with Hardy although language different from our own somewhat (better but can be tad hard to understand).

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Mrs.P.S.Lewis

Hardy at his most typical

9 March 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Typical hardy. He doesn't do happy endings however it was a good read.his descriptions are so good the picture just appears in your head

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L. Galloway

Good Book

29 January 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As a Thomas Hard fan I enjoyed this book. His writings are not for everyone but if you are a Thomas Hardy fan then this will not disappoint.

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Mark Twain

The book is in really good condition and everything

16 September 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The book is in really good condition and everything, it's just roughly A4 size so be careful of that :)

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Wessex-sur-mer

14 July 2012

Format: Kindle Edition

A quarter of a century after writing this work, Mr Hardy reflects in his notes that this is 'an imperfect little drama of country life and passions'. I think this is false modesty because this is a very well written novel with some cracking lines, perhaps only slightly let down by a peremptory ending.

Esssentially, it's a love triangle. Young Elfride is a frisky mare for whom the word 'ingenue' was invented. She mixes a 'coquettish hauteur' with a 'childish lack of confidence' but possesses those blue eyes that one looks 'into' rather than 'at'.

Her first flirtation is with home-boy made good, Stephen Smith. Smith, with red lips and boyish good looks, hails from the same coastal village as Elfride. He gets her as far as Paddington station before the affair comes off the rails and 'watery' Stephen makes way for the mature sophistication of Henry Knight.

Mr Hardy plays on a theme of the 'poison of suspicion' with loads of snobbery thrown in as the Victorian consequences of an Overnight Return on the Great Western Railway unravel.

It is less claustrophobic than some of his novels, with illuminating visits to London and Plymouth. Knight's epigram-itis is tedious and the ending, for me, doesn't wash. Small criticisms, totally outweighed by a recommended read.

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Most recent customer reviews

L.W

A powerful tale of love and tragedy.

A well told story of love and tragedy.

Published on 31 August 2015

Pyewacket

A charming but ultimately rather sad tale......

Elfride Swancourt is the only daughter of the Reverend Swancourt and as she has no Mother and no other female company in the house she has been allowed to do more as less as she...Read more

Published on 20 June 2012

Javaslublu Books

Synopsis

Celebrated for its central scene which shocked and stimulated Victorian readers. Forever after it caused Hardy to be embroiled in arguments concerning the sexual morality of his...Read more

Published on 5 August 2008

Gregory S. Buzwell

A neglected gem

A Pair of Blue Eyes has a special place in Hardy's fiction. It is his most autobiographical novel, being based in part on his youthful courtship of Emma Gifford, the woman who was...Read more

Published on 8 July 2007

Cecilia S. Idiart

A perfect book to get to know Hardy

This is the only book I've read by Hardy up to now, so I can't compare it to any of his later, more famous works. However, I can say that I loved "A Pair of Blue Eyes".Read more

Published on 4 January 2004

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