Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) preceded The Return of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd, as the first of Thomas Hardy's novels set in Wessex.

A holiday tale of charm and appeal, Under the Greenwood Tree was Hardy's second novel. The book brought him his first taste of literary and public success. The warmly-remembered holiday and love story told in Under the Greenwood Tree is sure to please readers today. Full of nostalgia and evocative scenes, Under the Greenwood Tree evokes Hardy's sense of place, time and human relationships, with little of the darkness found in Hardy's later, great works such as Jude the Obscure and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.