The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy

One of the literary world's great deceptions was perpetrated when Thomas Hardy wrote his "Life" in secret, for publication after his death as an official biography. Since the true circumstances of its composition have been known, "The Early Life and Later Years of Thomas Hardy", published over the name of Florence Emily Hardy, has frequently been referred to as Hardy's autobiography. However, this is not the whole truth, since Florence altered much of what Hardy meant to appear in his "biography". Michael Millgate has made a careful examination of the pre-publication texts and has retrieved the text as it stood at the time of Hardy's final revision. Thus, for the first time "The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy" can be read as a true work of autobiography.