A Pair of Blue Eyes

A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) is a novel by Thomas Hardy. The book describes the love triangle of a young woman, and her two suitors from very different backgrounds. One is a socially inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a country background. The other is the respectable, established, older man who represents London society. Although the two are friends, the older is not aware of the younger's previous liaison with her. She finds herself caught in a battle between her heart, her mind and the expectations of those around her—her parents and society. When her father finds that his guest and candidate for his daughter's hand, the younger man is the son of a mason, he immediately orders him to leave. The older, who is a relative of her stepmother, is later on the point of seeking to marry her, but ultimately rejects her when he learns she had been previously courted. So, out of desperation, she marries a third man…