

In 1885, they returned to Dorchester, moving into Max Gate, a house which Hardy had designed himself. The Hardys moved from London to Yeovil, and then to Sturminster Newton, where he wrote The Return of the Native (1878). Over the next 25 years, Hardy produced 10 more novels. His next novel, Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) was successful enough for Hardy to be able to give up his architectural work and take up a full-time literary career. The story draws on Hardy's courtship of Emma Gifford whom he married in 1874. In 1873, A Pair of Blue Eyes was published under his own name. Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) were published anonymously. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was finished in 1867 but failed to find a publisher. He won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London to take up employment. His mother was ambitious and well-read and supplemented his formal education.

Thomas Hardy was born at Upper Bockhampton near Dorchester in Dorset.

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