Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Readalong

Far from the Madding Crowd

Hosted by listenwithaudrey
02 Sep 24 - 13 Oct 24
63 participants

About

Join the Audrey community to listen to Far from the Madding Crowd on the Audrey app from September 2nd to October 13th.

Tracy Hayes's guide, exclusively available on the Audrey app, offers insights into understanding the book that make it a really special experience.

Here's the schedule and more about the book on Audrey and this listen-along. If you haven't already, do sign up to receive our emails and reminders (and to be in with a chance of winning next month's listen-along book!)

The following people have been involved in the production of the Audrey guided edition of Far From, and we're so excited for you to enjoy it!

Narrator: Jamie Parker
Guide: Tracy Hayes
Illustrator: Marie Muravski

Forums

Introductions👋

Welcome to our first Thomas Hardy Listen-along. 

Please say hello and tell us where you are from. Have you read Far From the Madding Crowd before? 

We are looking forward to listening to this incredible story with you 😀
61 comments

Far From General Forum 🌳🐏

A space for general questions, thoughts and comments about Far From the Madding Crowd and the Audrey app 😀

11 comments

Chapter 1: Description of Farmer Oak - An Incident

Target: 02 Sep 2024

What are your initial impressions of Gabriel Oak? 

What do you think of Gabriel’s comment about Bathsheba, “She has her faults..and the greatest of them is.…vanity.”

General thoughts on the first chapter. 🐏
21 comments

Chapter 2: NIght - The Flock - An Interior - Another Interior. Chapter 3: A Girl on Horseback -A Conversation

Target: 03 Sep 2024

🌳Thomas Hardy is noted for his nature writing. Did anything in the desciptions stand out for you?

Tracy asks us whether Oak is a ‘voyeur’ or mere observer. What do you think? 
32 comments

Chapter 4: Gabriel’s Resolve - The Visit - The Mistake. Chapter 5: Departure of Bathsheba-A Pastoral Tragedy

Target: 04 Sep 2024

“I shall do one thing in this life -one thing certain-that is love you,  and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die.”

“I want someone to tame me.”

What is your opinion of Bathsheba and Gabriel in Chapter 4 and what do you think these comments reveal about them?

Tracy asks us - Does [the] idea of the tragedy of attempting consistency or perfection in a world made up of compromise resonate with you? What does it bring to mind?  
16 comments

Chapter 6: The Fair - The Journey - The Fire. Chapter 7: Recognition-A Timid Girl

Target: 06 Sep 2024

“There was room for a little pity, also for a very little exultation: the former at his position, the latter at her own.”
What’s your opinion of Bathsheba? Has it changed? 

Tracy asks - Why do you think Hardy puts Oak in this position of having to lower himself to asking Bathsheba for a job? 
7 comments

Chapter 8: The Malthouse -The Chat -

Target: 07 Sep 2024

Which character stood out for you in this chapter?

Tracy asks us: Do you think Hardy’s personal life should come into how we judge or perceive a character’s attitude to marriage? 
8 comments

Chapter 9: The Homestead - A Visitor - Half-Confidences Chapter 10: Mistress and Men

Target: 08 Sep 2024

Tracy tells us that a woman bailiff was almost unheard of. What do you think of Bathsheba’s decision to take on this role? 

Bathsheba says, “I will astonish you all.” Do you believe her? 
6 comments

Chapter 11: Outside the Barracks - Snow -A Meeting Chapter 12: Farmers - A Rule - An Exception

Target: 09 Sep 2024

What impressions did you gain of Fanny and Sergeant Troy through their dialogue. 

Bathsheba is the only woman doing business in a building full of men. What do you think of her behaviour in this chapter? 
12 comments

Chapter 13: Sortes Sanctorum - The Valentine Chapter 14: Effect of the letter - Sunrise

Target: 11 Sep 2024

What do you think about the circumstances of the sending of the Valentine?

“Boldwood had felt the symmetry of his existence to be slowly getting distorted.”
Tracy tells us that this sentence ‘demonstrates Hardy’s acute insight into the human psyche.’ What are your first impressions of Boldwood? 
10 comments

Chapter 15: A Morning Meeting - The Letter Again

Target: 12 Sep 2024

A letter and a Valentine. What do you think is the significance of these in the story? 
3 comments

Chapter 16: All Saints’ and All Souls’ Chapter 17: in the Market Place

Target: 13 Sep 2024

The wedding that didn’t happen. How did this chapter make you feel?
Do you think that Bathsheba is emancipated and ahead of her time. If so, why?
11 comments

Chapter 18: Boldwood in Meditation - Regret Chapter 19: The Sheep-Washing - The Offer

Target: 14 Sep 2024

Do you think Boldwood at fault for reading too much into things?

We have had 2 proposals and 2 refusals. How do you think they compare? 
27 comments

Chapter 20 Perplexity ~Grinding the Shears - A Quarrel Chapter 21: Troubles in the Fold - A Message

Target: 16 Sep 2024

What is your opinion of Bathsheba at the end of Chapter 20? Does Oak deserve to be fired?

What do you think of Gabriel’s decision to stay? 
10 comments

Chapter 22: The Great Barn and The Sheep Shearers

Target: 17 Sep 2024

This chapter has some beautiful descriptions of nature and architecture. Which description stood out for you? 
4 comments

Chapter 23: Eventide - A Second Declaration Chapter 24: The Same Night - The Fir Plantation

Target: 18 Sep 2024

“It was a fatal omission of Boldwood’s that he had never once told her she was beautiful.” 
What do you think this says about Bathsheba and about Hardy’s view of women? 

7 comments

Chapter 25: The New Acquaintance Described Chapter 26: Scene on the Verge of the Hay-Mead

Target: 19 Sep 2024

What are your impressions of Troy? 

Bathsheba now has 3 suitors! How do they compare? 
15 comments

Chapter 27: Hiving the Bees Chapter 28: The Hollow Amid the Ferns

Target: 21 Sep 2024

Tracy says she regards Troy as a “most worthy Satan figure.” Do you? Can you understand Bathsheba’s attraction? 

Tracy refers to this as, “possibly the most notorious chapter in the novel.” What did you think of chapter 28?
12 comments

Chapter 29: Particulars of an Twilight Walk Chapter 30: Hot Cheeks and Tearful Eyes

Target: 22 Sep 2024

Has Bathsheba been ‘tamed’? Is this love? 

“How would the farm go on with nobody to mind it but a woman?”
Gabriel Oak- misogynist or realist? 
8 comments

Chapter 31: Blame - Fury

Target: 23 Sep 2024

"such astounding wells of fevered feeling in a still man," Bathsheba is taken aback by the strength of Boldwood’s feelings. Are you? 
11 comments

Chapter 32: Night - Horses Trembling Chapter 33: In the Sun - A Harbinger

Target: 24 Sep 2024

Stars and hoof prints - What are your thoughts on chapter 32? 
Cainy Ball is an interesting narrator! What do you make of his tales of Bath?
2 comments

Chapter 34: Home Again - A Trickster

Target: 25 Sep 2024

A further reference to Troy as Satan. Did the marriage surprise you? What are your feelings about Bathsheba? 
6 comments

Chapter 35: At an Upper Window. Chapter 36: Wealth in Jeopardy - The

Target: 27 Sep 2024

What do you think of the way that Gabriel and Boldwood react to the news of Bathsheba’s marriage?
1 comment

Chapter 37: The Storm - The Two Together. Chapter 38: Rain - One Solitary Meets Another

Target: 28 Sep 2024

What do you think of the circumstances of the wedding? 
“..here was a man who had suffered more.”
Do you think Boldwood has suffered more? What do you think of this assessment?
9 comments

Chapter 39: Coming Home- A Cry Chapter 40: On Casterbridge Highway

Target: 30 Sep 2024

Has Bathsheba been tamed? What are your thoughts about her now? 

‘One of the saddest chapters in all of literature .” Did you feel the same? Which chapters, in which novels, did you find the saddest in literature?
5 comments

Chapter 41: Suspicion - Fanny is Sent For

Target: 30 Sep 2024

“let me fascinate you by all I can do, by pretty words and pretty looks”

What do you think this chapter reveals about the marriage? 
0 comments

Chapter 42: Joseph and His Burden - “Buck’s Head”

Target: 02 Oct 2024

Why do you think Gabriel erased the words, ‘and child’? 
8 comments

Chapter 43: Fanny’s Revenge

Target: 03 Oct 2024

What will Bathsheba do now? 
Do you think Troy’s remorse is genuine?
3 comments

Chapter 44: Under a Tree: Reaction Chapter 45: Troy’s Romanticism

Target: 04 Oct 2024

What do you think of Hardy’s descriptions of nature: realistic or romantic?

What do you think of Troy’s actions? Does he redeem himself at all? 
4 comments

Chapter 46: The Gurgoyle - Its doing Chapter 47: Adventures by the Shore

Target: 05 Oct 2024

What do you make of the graveyard scene?

Tracy refers us to a website for maps which will enable us to “walk in the footsteps of Hardy’s characters.” Are there any scenes in Far From which you’d like to visit?
1 comment

Chapter 48: Doubts Arise - Doubts Linger Chapter 49: Oak’s Advancement- A Great

Target: 07 Oct 2024

Is Bathsheba maturing? What signs of change do you see?

What do you think of the guide notes about mourning?
3 comments

Chapter 50: The Sheep Fair - Troy Touches His Wife’s Hand

Target: 08 Oct 2024

What are your thoughts on Troy in this chapter? 
10 comments

Chapter 51: Bathsheba Talks With Her Outrider - Advice Chapter 52: Converging Courses

Target: 09 Oct 2024

‘His career depends entirely on my treatment of him.” Do you think Bathsheba owes Boldwood amends?

How do you assess Boldwood’s mood before the party? 

Both Troy and Boldwood ask for advice, both reject it. What do you think will be the consequences?
6 comments

Chapter 53: Concurritur - Horae Momento

Target: 11 Oct 2024

How do you feel? Did you see this coming? 
9 comments

Chapter 54: After The Shock Chapter 55: The March Following - “Bathsheba Boldwood”

Target: 12 Oct 2024

“She was the stuff of which great men’s mothers are made.”
“a mere girl” 
What do you think of Bathsheba?

“Boldwood entered and the door was closed behind him, and he walked the world no more.”
Tracy describes this line as “one of the most heartrending in all of literature.” Do you agree? 

Did the diagnosis or verdict surprise you? 
4 comments

Chapter 56: Beauty in Loneliness - After All Chapter 57: A Foggy Night and Morning - Conclusion

Target: 13 Oct 2024

Is this a happy ending? 
16 comments

Thank You & Reviews 💗


Thank you so much for taking part in our listen-along of Far From the Madding Crowd. This has been a wonderful journey with some fascinating discussions. 

These forums will always be here so please don’t rush to the end. This is a novel which should be savoured. You can pop back on here at any time to look through the comments and add your own. 

We really hope that you have enjoyed the listen-along and would welcome any feedback either in this forum or via the survey which will arrive in your inbox when you have finished the book. Your feedback is valuable in planning future listen-alongs. 

If you’d like to help our indie audiobook company grow our global community of listeners, you can do one of these things:


We have some lovely review templates available. We have instagram story and square post formats. Please message us if you would like to use these. 

Coming up next:

A Study of Scarlet Listen-along runs 16th-31st October. We would love to have your company. 

For those of you who are ready for more Thomas Hardy, we have our wonderful audiobook The Woodlanders. This beautiful novel explores the role of place in the formation of identity, and how interfering families, social expectations, local traditions, romantic entanglements, and even a slug at hte dinner table can redirect and individual’s sense of self. Hardy is said to have called this the best of his stories. 

Thank you once again for joining us. Our small team of book lovers are very grateful for your support.

Rob, Lucy, Ari, Sally and NItika 💕
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