The Trumpet-Major

In a Wessex village during the Napoleonic invasion scare, the gentle miller’s son who serves as the local trumpet-major loves a spirited young woman courted by several rivals, while England braces for a French landing that may never come. Lighter and warmer than Hardy’s tragedies, this historical romance blends comedy, tender feeling, and vivid period detail of a countryside on a war footing. Charming and gently ironic, The Trumpet-Major evokes a bygone rural England shadowed by distant great events. A delightful and affectionate novel, it shows Hardy’s lighter touch while retaining his deep feeling for the land, the past, and the quiet dramas of ordinary hearts.