Other editions of book The Trumpet-Major

"he Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel. It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. Unusually for a Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters.The novel is set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars;[1] the town was then anxious about the possibility of invasion by Napoleon.[2] Of the two brothers, John fights with Wellington in the Peninsular War, and Bob serves with Nelson at Trafalgar. The Napoleonic Wars was a setting that Hardy would use again in his play, The Dynasts, and it borrows from the same source material.[3]Edward Neill has called the novel an attempt to repeat the success of his earlier work Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), after the limited success of his intervening works"

In the days of high-waisted and muslin-gowned women, when the vast amount of soldiering going on in thecountry was a cause of much trembling to the sex, there lived in a village near the Wessex coast two ladies ofgood report, though unfortunately of limited means. The elder was a Mrs. Martha Garland, a landscapepainter’s widow, and the other was her only daughter Anne.Anne was fair, very fair, in a poetical sense; but in complexion she was of that particular tint between blondeand brunette which is inconveniently left without a name. Her eyes were honest and inquiring, her mouthcleanly cut and yet not classical, the middle point of her upper lip scarcely descending so far as it should havedone by rights, so that at the merest pleasant thought, not to mention a smile, portions of two or three whiteteeth were uncovered whether she would or not. Some people said that this was very attractive. She wasgraceful and slender, and, though but little above five feet in height, could draw herself up to look tall. Inher manner, in her comings and goings, in her ‘I’ll do this,’ or ‘I’ll do that,’ she combined dignity withsweetness as no other girl could do; and any impressionable stranger youths who passed by were led to yearnfor a windfall of speech from her, and to see at the same time that they would not get it. In short, beneathall that was charming and simple in this young woman there lurked a real firmness, unperceived at first, asthe speck of colour lurks unperceived in the heart of the palest parsley flower.

"he Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel. It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. Unusually for a Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters.The novel is set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars;[1] the town was then anxious about the possibility of invasion by Napoleon.[2] Of the two brothers, John fights with Wellington in the Peninsular War, and Bob serves with Nelson at Trafalgar. The Napoleonic Wars was a setting that Hardy would use again in his play, The Dynasts, and it borrows from the same source material.[3]Edward Neill has called the novel an attempt to repeat the success of his earlier work Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), after the limited success of his intervening works"

Like the waves at the coast near to the town that provides the setting for the story, the central plot of relationships between Anne and her various suitors flows in and out, in and out, until the end. These plot undulations effectively create the wary feeling that either everyone is going to end up happy, or everyone is going to end up crushed, alone, dead, or a combination of these latter three.

"The Trumpet-Major", first published in 1880, is Thomas Hardy's seventh novel — a historical and pastoral romance set in and around the seaside resort of Budmouth (Weymouth) during the Napoleonic Wars.Our heroine, a graceful and charming young woman, Anne Garland, lives quietly in a rural community deep in the English countryside. However, the arrival of several regiments preparing for an expected invasion brings colour and chaos to the county.Anne is pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the trumpet-major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Robert, a merchant seaman and womaniser, and Festus Derriman, the cowardly son of the local squire. Set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, this is the author's only historical novel, and unusually for Hardy's books, some of the characters live happily ever after.

The Trumpet-Major is a novel by Thomas Hardy published in 1880, and his only historical novel. It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, the eponymous trumpet major in a British regiment, honest and loyal; his brother Bob, a flighty sailor; and Festus Derriman, the cowardly nephew of the local squire. Unusually for a Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters.