A Group of Noble Dames – Thomas Hardy (1891)

Read for my on-going Hardy reading project, this was the first book of Hardy’s work I hadn’t read previously, the only other one I haven’t read is A Changed man and other tales – which is scheduled for next May. I was therefore looking forward to reading a selection of short stories which were new to me, and over all I wasn’t disappointed, although these won’t be my favourites Hardy stories. In these stories there are little of the pastoral scenes which I so love in Hardy’s work, the emphasis being instead themes of love and marriage in stories largely of women.

For each of these ten stories Hardy has taken the idea of noble country families – and the stories which could lie behind them. Each story is set historically (from Hardy’s time) and is told by a different gentleman of the Wessex Field and Antiquarian Clubs.
Focusing on the lives, loves and marriages of aristocratic women, Hardy examines the secrets and hypocrisies of some country families. Marriage is a recurring theme in many Hardy novels, and each of these perfectly constructed stories could quite easily be stretched to novel size, such is their depth and complexity – several of the tales span many years. It’s always so hard to review short stories – talking about each story in detail could end up being rather wordy. I will try therefore to just give a brief flavour of the whole collection – which recount the fortunes of some very memorable young ladies. Hardy’s female characters are always fascinating – and these are no exception. Not all of these women are likeable, Hardy is very good presenting his female characters as real and flawed people, be they shallow, conniving, romantic or proud. In the opening story we meet the first Countess of Wessex – whose early marriage at thirteen, arranged by her mother, so incensed her adoring father. Having lived apart from her husband until she is eighteen, she contemplates being reunited with her husband nervously. In the second story, Barbara marries a beautiful poorly educated young man unwisely and in haste, but when her young Adonis returns from abroad horrifically disfigured following a fire, she is unable to reconcile the memory of her lovely young husband with the changed man before her.

“O Edmond – it is you? – it must be?’ she said, with clasped hands, for though his figure and movement were almost enough to prove it and the tones were not unlike the old tones, the enunciation was so altered to seem that of a stranger”

Another noble young woman who marries secretly quickly repents her choice – so when her husband dies suddenly she finds an ingenious way of covering up her hasty union, only things take an unexpected turn, and she is unable to undo her lies. Then there is the Lady Penelope who is courted by three different men, and foolishly makes a hasty declaration.

“I would have you know, then, that a great many years ago there lived in a classical mansion with which I used to be familiar, standing not a hundred miles from the city of Melchester, a lady whose personal charms were so rare and unparalleled that she was courted, flattered, and spoilt by almost all the young noblemen and gentlemen in that part of Wessex.”

Heartbreak, deceit and the inconsistencies of romance all play a part in these stories. Thomas Hardy really was a consummate storyteller, and these stories like The Wessex Tales which the Hardy group read last – really show how he was a gifted writer of shorter fiction too.