Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset, England on June 2, 1840 to Jemima Hand and Thomas Hardy Sr. who were only married for six months. Thomas was the oldest of four children who included Mary, Henry and Kate. Hardy attended school for only eight years between 1848 and 1856. While at school he developed a love for architecture as well as for writing. While working for the architect John Hicks as his assistant he never stopped studying writing and even practiced Latin every morning for three hours before work. In 1868 Thomas Hardy completed first novel, The Poor Man and The Lady. He had done all the writing in his spare time after work and on his days off. Despite such a commitment to his writing it was still rejected for publication.
             By 1870 Hardy had met his future wife Emma Gifford and was working on another novel called Desperate Remedies. Hardy's life now switched directions to becoming a full time writer yet he still maintained his association with local architects as a hobby rather than as a job. From 1871 to 1872 Hardy was in the process of writing two novels, Under the Greenwood Tree and A Pair of Blue Eyes. As it turned out Under the Greenwood Tree became one of Hardy's most famous novels and was partially based on his first rejected novel The Poor Man and The Lady.
             In 1874 Hardy married Emma Gifford and began work on another novel called The Hand of Ethelberta. Upon completion of this novel in 1876 Hardy started working on his most famous novel, The Return of the Native which was completed in 1878. By now Thomas Hardy had built quite a name for himself among literary circles and moved to London in 1878.
             The years of 1880 to 1891 were Hardy's most productive years. Within these years Hardy wrote eight novels during these years including The Trumpet-Major (1880), A Laodicean (1881); This was actually dictated to Emma because Hardy was bed ridden with an illness,
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