By Order: Thomas Hardy Trivia Quiz

An earlier book by Hardy had not been published, being rather opiniated and based on differences in class, and 'Desperate Remedies' was an attempt to write something more akin to the novels of Wilkie Collins. The novel involves a young woman, Cytherea Graye, forced to take up work as a lady's maid to support her family. Her discovery that the man she loves is engaged to another woman leads her to accept the proposal of another man.

In the first sensational twist it is discovered that this man is still married - his wife was believed to have died in a fire but escaped. This leads to an annulment of the second, bigamous marriage, and the first wife returns. A further twist is that she is an impostor, and the man had actually murdered his first wife, paying the woman to impersonate her.

The novel was published anonymously in 1871, and was not universally well- received, but did establish Hardy as an author to be reckoned with.

The second of Hardy's novels to be published, 'Under the Greenwood Tree' was also originally issued anonymously. It is the first to use the region of Wessex as its setting. The story has two main themes: one is a love affair between Fancy Day, a schoolmistress, and Dick Dewy a member of the local church musicians' group, the problems of which form the second strand of the story.

Fancy comes close to betraying Dick, but all ends well with the novel's happy ending being rather different from Hardy's later works. His depiction of rural life of the time shows a way of life which has now mostly disappeared. It also shows signs of his ability to make the landscape almost a character in the narrative.

Hardy published this novel under his own name and using a theme which became relatively common - a love triangle. The plot involves a young woman named Elfride Swancourt, who has two potential suitors. One is a poor young man, while the other is an older man of means. When Elfride's father discovers her first suitor is 'working-class', she is forced to reject him, while her second suitor rejects her when he finds she has had a previous courtship.

As became common in Hardy's novels, the consequences are tragic. The novel is considered a minor work with elements of melodrama which detract from the story.

This is probably the best known of Hardy's novels, thanks to the major films made from it in 1967 and 2015. The story was originally published in instalments in 1874, and Hardy revised it twice in 1895 and 1901. Like his second novel, it was set in Wessex, the fictitious region of western England.

The main characters are Bathsheba Everdene, a woman farmer, and the three men in her life: the reckless soldier, Francis Troy; a local farmer, William Boldwood; and the honest and loyal shepherd Gabriel Oak. Fanny Robin is the young woman who dies in childbirth, with her child who has been fathered by Troy.

Hardy created a host of other characters in farm workers and servants, all of whom have their own personalities. The novel was Hardy's first major success and remains popular well into the twenty-first century.

The story was originally published in monthly instalments before appearing as the full novel towards the end of 1878. The novel has a wide range of characters, with the mysterious Egdon Heath, a moorland, providing its own menacing character. The native who returns to the area, named Clym Yeobright, catches the eye of Eustacia Vye. She views him as a way out of her restricted life not knowing that he intends to give up his career as a diamond merchant to become a schoolteacher.

Another character is Damon Wildeve, an unreliable innkeeper, who has agreed to marry Thomasin Yeobright, cousin to Clym, despite being drawn to Eustacia himself. As this is a Hardy novel, unwise decisions are made, plans are thwarted and not everyone survives to the end of the book. There are a number of other characters who add flavour to the story.

This novel represented something of a change for Hardy as he set it in the historical period of the Napoleonic Wars. The main character, Anne Garland, lives in Weymouth, a location with which Hardy was familiar. She is another heroine to have three men vying for her hand - John Loveday, a trumpet major serving in Wellington's army, his brother Bob, who is in the navy with Nelson and fights at Trafalgar, and Festus Derriman, related to the local squire but described as a coward.

Although it is the only novel Hardy wrote set in a time period different from his own, he did write a play - 'The Dynasts' - set in the same era and published in the early twentieth century.

As in many of his novels, Hardy based places in Wessex on their real life equivalents. Casterbridge was the name he gave to Dorchester, Weymouth became Budmouth, Salisbury was named Melchester and Bournemouth was renamed Sandbourne, for example.

'The Mayor of Casterbridge' tells the story of Michael Henchard, who begins the novel by selling his wife and child before rising to a position of prominence after becoming a wealthy grain merchant. He has a liaison with Lucetta Templeman, but this comes to nothing when Susan, the wife he sold, reappears with a daughter. From then on, Henchard's life spirals out of control, leading to tragedy for many of those closest to him. The novel was another to be published in instalments originally.

Another of Hardy's Wessex novels, 'The Woodlanders' was published in 1887 having been issued as a serial between 1886 and 1887. Once again, Hardy returns to the theme of a woman marrying the wrong man and turning down the more faithful, but less financially secure man, who truly loves her.

The heroine is Grace Melbury who has been given an education, unusually for a woman of the time, by her father - she is his only child. Although she has been unofficially engaged to Giles, a woodman, she is persuaded by her father to marry the local doctor. He husband turns out to be a philanderer both before and during the marriage and Grace attempts to pursue a divorce - the law had recently changed allowing divorce and Hardy incorporated this into his novel. This is a Hardy novel so, without giving too much away, don't read this expecting a happy ending.

This was Hardy's penultimate novel, dating from 1891. Hardy was well into his themes of the oppressions of society and the difficulties caused, especially to women. By now, his works were attracting criticism and 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' was no exception.

The story covers the life of Tess Durbeyfield, whose life is upended when her father is led to believe they are related to the much higher class d'Urberville family. When Tess accidentally causes the death of the family's horse, she agrees to visit the d'Urbervilles in the hope they will help. The irony is that the name was adopted by the family and they have no real claim to the name. The rakish son, Alec, makes Tess pregnant (rape is probably involved but not made explicit) and her son dies.

Her life appears to be improving when Tess marries Angel Clare who abandons her when she naively reveals her past. Tess's eventual fate involves Alec d'Urberville and a date with the gallows. Liza-Lu is Tess's younger sister and it is implied that she and Angel Clare will marry. Hardy's sympathetic treatment of Tess challenged the double standards of Victorian times, causing controversy, and the end of his novel writing was approaching.

This became the final novel published by Hardy who again focusses on the morals of Victorian society and the oppressive nature of the church. The story of Jude Fawley follows his dashed dreams of studying at Christminster (Oxford in reality) when he is tricked into marriage by Arabella Donn, who claims pregnancy.

When Arabella abandons him, he forms a relationship with his cousin Sue who eventually leaves her husband to live with Jude. This was, of course, a sin in that era and, to be fair, for many years afterwards, so Hardy presenting it as normal caused an even bigger furore than Tess's story. Life becomes even more complicated when Arabella reappears, bringing Jude's son with her, and much tragedy ensues.

The reaction to this book was one of the reasons Hardy turned away from writing novels, with poetry becoming his main literary output from then on.