Dry Hand

Literary critics refer to Thomas Hardy as "one of the magnificent masters of short prose," while the author himself believed that "a story must be exceptional to justify its existence." For example, in the story "Dry Hand," Hardy reflected his vision of sentimental gothic prose, incorporating supernatural phenomena into the realistic ordinariness of rural life. Rhoda Brook raises her son alone, whose father is the local farm owner, Mr. Lodge. Shortly after Lodge marries the young beauty Gertrude, the girl appears to Rhoda in a dream in the form of a terrifying witch. Is this a dream?

This edition also includes "The Preacher in Distress," "The Three Strangers," "The Uninvited Guests," and other works by the author.