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Audiobook edition · 16 h 5 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the house that offers you a living draws you into secrets you cannot afford to uncover?
After her father dies, Cytherea Graye must earn her living with little money and few choices. She becomes a companion to Miss Aldclyffe, the wealthy, strong-willed owner of Knapwater House. But her new mistress guards a painful past, and the estate’s polished steward, Aeneas Manston, wants more than Cytherea’s good opinion. His charm draws her toward danger.
Cytherea’s heart belongs to Edward Springrove, a kind young man whose earlier promise stands between them. In Desperate Remedies, Thomas Hardy sets love against the hard demands of money and class. His first published novel combines secrets, schemes and shocks with a sharp question: how freely can a woman choose when her livelihood depends on others?
What you’ll discover
- A precarious new life Follow Cytherea into a country house where earning a living brings dangerous entanglements.
- Love held in check Feel the strain between Cytherea and Edward as an older tie keeps them apart.
- Charm with troubling depths Meet Aeneas Manston, whose polished manners conceal a troubling story of his own.
- The price of dependence See how wealth and social position narrow the choices open to a proud young woman.
- Hardy at the beginning Discover his early rural world through a tightly plotted mystery of secrets and sudden discoveries.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like Victorian mysteries, country houses with secrets, plots full of letters and clues, and early work by the novelist who later wrote Tess.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A father's lost love and a fatal fall
- Two orphans start again in Budmouth
- A boat trip leads to love and a secret
- Cytherea enters Knapwater House as lady's maid
- Manston arrives and Edward is lost
- A steward's secret and a night of fire
- Pressure on the Springroves and a bargain for Owen
- The wedding day and a shock at the station
- Money, marriage and the choices women are given
- A sensation novel told with a poet's eye
Who’s who
- Cytherea GrayeA gentle, graceful eighteen-year-old left penniless by her father's death, she wants safety for her brother and herself and hopes for love.
- Owen GrayeHer proud, hardworking brother, an architect's draughtsman, wants to make a respectable living and protect his sister.
- Edward SpringroveA bookish young architect and poet, he loves Cytherea but is held by an old promise to his cousin.
- Miss AldclyffeThe rich and imperious mistress of Knapwater House, she is lonely, quick-tempered, and fixed on arranging other people's lives.
- Aeneas ManstonA handsome, musical steward with a hidden past, he wants to win Cytherea whatever it takes.
- Adelaide HintonEdward's calm, practical cousin and fiancée, she lives alone at Peakhill Cottage and thinks she knows him well.
- Farmer SpringroveEdward's gentle father, who keeps the Three Tranters Inn and worries about his son's future and his own debts.
- Clerk CrickettThe talkative parish clerk of Carriford, he knows every rumor and delights in telling it.
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Remèdes désespérés
by Thomas Hardy · 1871
Penniless Cytherea Graye becomes a lady's maid at Knapwater House, where a handsome steward watches her.
Medium level10–20 hours to readfrançais
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In short
What happens to a young woman when her father falls from a church spire and leaves nothing but debts? Desperate Remedies, the first novel Thomas Hardy published, in 1871, begins with an old love affair that shapes its heroine's later troubles.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A father's lost love and a fatal fall
The story opens in 1835. A young architect named Ambrose Graye falls in love in London with Cytherea Bradleigh. When he asks her to be his wife, she runs from the room. Next morning a note tells him that something forever separates them, and no one will explain why.
Graye never forgets her. He marries another woman and lives with a gloom that dulls his judgment. He borrows, he speculates, and he trusts the wrong men. He names his daughter Cytherea, and in October 1863 she sits in the Town Hall at Hocbridge. Through the window she sees her father on a scaffold around a church spire. She watches him slip and fall.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1871
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 10 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Hardy, Thomas. Desperate Remedies. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/desperate-remedies.
Hardy, T. (2026). Desperate remedies. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/desperate-remedies (Original work published 1871)
Hardy, Thomas. Desperate Remedies. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/desperate-remedies.
@book{hardy2026desperate,
author = {Hardy, Thomas},
title = {Desperate Remedies},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/desperate-remedies},
note = {First published 1871}
}
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What is Desperate Remedies about?
It follows Cytherea Graye, orphaned and poor, who becomes a lady's maid at Knapwater House. She loves Edward Springrove but is pursued by the steward Aeneas Manston, and a series of secrets, letters and a fire shape her fate.
Is Desperate Remedies Thomas Hardy's first novel?
It is the first novel Hardy published, appearing in 1871. In a later preface he says it relies on mystery, entanglement and surprise, and that he was still finding his method when he wrote it.
Why is the heroine called Cytherea?
Cytherea is an unusual name linked to the goddess of love. Her father gives it to her in memory of his first sweetheart, and the same name draws Miss Aldclyffe's attention when she meets the girl.
The author
Thomas Hardy
1840–1928 · English novelist and poet
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was an English novelist and poet. He was born in Dorset and lived in Dorset and London. His novels include Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), and Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891). He published poetry collections from 1898 until his death.
More by Thomas Hardy
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