I love Thomas Hardy’s novels, though they often make me cry. Thomas Hardy regarded himself first as a poet, and secondly as a novelist. I adore his poems, especially when read by Richard Burton, and I also love his novels. Incredibly prolific, Hardy wrote fourteen novels, short stories and many volumes of poetry. About one thousand poems were published in his lifetime.

In 1840 Jemima Hardy gave birth to her first child in a humble Dorset cottage built by her husband and father-in-law, but it appeared the baby boy was dead. He was put aside while the doctor attended to the mother, but suddenly the little scrap of humanity let out a small cry and so the life of Thomas Hardy began.

Thomas was the eldest of four children. A frail child, he was doted on by both parents. An early pleasure was going with his father to play the fiddle at country weddings – at such events, he learned about local traditions and the ways of agricultural people. His mother was a keen reader and soon introduced her boy to stories and books.

Thomas Hardy trained as an architect, and it was in this role that he went to Cornwall to restore a church where he met his first wife, Emma. I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of his two marriages – to Emma and then to Florence. There were no children, only pets, and both wives seem to have found him a difficult man to live with.

Hardy’s life was a long one and he grew to be so famous that princes lunched with him. Join me to discover which book made his fame, why so many of his novels shocked Victorian society, and which scandalous novel made him give up fiction for good. How did Hardy fight for change? What did he, as an atheist, have to say about the Victorian church, and in what ways was he an early advocate of the ‘Me Too’ movement? The story of his funeral is an intriguing one – discover why Hardy’s body rests in two places today.

Going to visit Thomas Hardy’s birthplace and his home Max Gate outside Dorchester are very moving experiences.