"To be loved to madness - such was her great desire."

The Return of the Native is Hardy's most popular novel.

Clym Yeobright is the "native" who returns to Egdon Heath from his studies in Paris.

Clym is soon caught up in a troubled relationship with Eustacia Vye, a darkly complicated young woman who hopes to escape her dreary existence on the Heath for an exciting life in Paris. Several other characters as well are soon caught up in a web of deceit, misunderstanding, and misfortune, and the reader wonders which of them will manage to find happiness.

The Return of the Native was filmed for television in 1994 starring Catherine Zeta Jones as Eustacia Vye, Clive Owen as Damon Wildeve, Ray Stevenson as Clym Yeobright, and Joan Plowright as Mrs. Yeobright. In 2010 an adaptation of The Return of the Native was directed by Ben Westbrook. It is set in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1930s during The Great Depression. The novel has also been adapted for the stage several times.

An Author's Republic audio production.