The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
The novel opens with the action of the plot already in progress. Reddleman Diggory Venn rides out onto the moor with Thomasin Yeobright in the back of his wagon: his marriage to Damon Wildeve was delayed by a mistake in the marriage certificate, and Thomasin collapsed. We soon learn that Wildeve orchestrated the error himself. He is enamored with Eustacia Vye and uses, at least to some extent, Thomasin as a means of making Eustacia jealous. When Venn learns of the romance between Eustacia and Wildeve, his own love for Thomasin prompts him to intervene on his behalf, which he will continue to do throughout the novel. But Venn's attempts to persuade Eustacia to allow Wildeve to marry Thomasin, like his own proposal to marry Thomasin, are unsuccessful.
Into this confusing tangle of lovers comes Clym Yeobright, Thomasin's cousin and the son of willing widow Mrs. Yeobright, who also serves as Thomasin's guardian. Eustacia sees the Courtly Clym as an escape from the hated moor. Before even meeting him, Eustacia convinces herself to fall in love with Clym, breaking off her romance with Wildeve, who then marries Thomasin. Chance and Eustacia's machinations bring Clym and her together, and they begin a courtship that will eventually end in their marriage, despite Ms. Yeobright's strong objections. Once Wildeve hears about Eustacia's marriage, he begins to desire her again, despite being already married to Thomasin.
By marrying Eustacia, Clym distances himself from his mother. However, the distance is also starting to grow between the newlyweds. Eustacia's dreams of moving to Paris are rejected by Clym, who wants to open a school in his home country. Wildeve inherits a substantial fortune, and he and hapless Eustacia begin spending time together again: first at a country dance, where they are seen by the ubiquitous watcher Diggory Venn, and then later, when Wildeve pays a visit to Eustacia at home while Clym is asleep. . During this visit, Mrs. Yeobright knocks on the door; she came to hope for a reconciliation with the couple. Eustacia, however, in her confusion and fear of being discovered with Wildeve, does not allow Mrs.Yeobright to enter the house: heartbroken and feeling rejected by her son, she succumbs to the heat and bites of snake on the way back, and dies.
Clym blames himself for his mother's death; He and Eustacia go their separate ways when he learns of the role Eustacia played in Ms. Yeobright's death, and of his continued relationship with Wildeve. Eustacia plans an escape from the moor, and Wildeve agrees to help her. On a stormy night, the action reaches its climax: on the way to meet Wildeve, Eustacia drowns. Trying to save her, Wildeve also drowns. It is only through heroic efforts that Diggory Venn saves Clym from the same fate. The latter part of the novel sees the growth of a loving relationship, and eventual marriage, between Thomasin and Diggory. Clym, very reduced by his sorrows and by a weak vision caused by too arduous studies, becomes a wandering preacher, taken half seriously by the inhabitants.
