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Thomas Hardy, an English novelist, was born in a tiny English village near Dorchester. The years of his life united two centuries (1840-1928). He lived at the crossroads of epochs. His first book was published more than a hundred years ago; the last book was publicized in the 20s of the last century. He is known as the greatest writer of the late Victorian era.

As a nine-year-old boy, he was sent to study in Dorchester to parochial school. As a shy and unsociable boy, he read a lot in school and outdoors.

 After graduation, Hardy continued his studies as an assistant to an architect. In 1862, the future poet received an architecture degree at King's College London.

After returning home to Dorchester in 1867, Thomas Hardy returned not only as an architect but also as a writer. By that time, he had already had one novel to his credit. At the age of 35, he published the novel "Desperate Remedies". Over the next ten years, he worked productively and became a recognized professional writer. His fame came from his novel “Far from the Madding Crowd”, which was first published in Cornhill Magazine.

He was also famous for writing short stories. In 1885, he and his wife settled in Dorchester. His hometown was an object for his short stories.  In his stories, he described the life and relationships of ordinary people. Three collections of short stories were published – “Wessex Tales” (1888), “A Group of Noble Dames” (1891), and “Life’s Little Ironies” (1894).

Gradually, Thomas Hardy changed direction from prose to poetry. The second half of his creative life characterizes him as a poet.

A heart attack caused the death of his wife, Emma, in 1912. He no longer wrote short stories or novels. T. Hardy composed poems about love for his wife. He wrote until the last day of his life. In later collections of his poems, he put both emotional experiences and emotions of the war years. In the preface to the last collection of poems, “Winter Words”, Thomas Hardy wrote that this may be his last work. And he wasn’t wrong. The writer died in 1928. His heart was buried separately from his body in the grave of his beloved wife.

Many writers and poets called themselves the successors of Thomas Hardy and mentioned his books in their works. Among these people were Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, Richard Aldington, and many others.

In total, Hardy wrote and published twenty-five titles — novels, collections of short stories, and poems. Many of his works have been translated into different languages and adapted into movies.