Book Review

Under the Greenwood Tree
by Thomas Hardy

This brief 19th century novel was very quiet, warm, and nostalgic. It is set in a small Essex village and uses the small alterations in village life to muse on the nature of change, particularly as it affects small rural communities. The two main events in the book are the new vicar's discontinuation of the traditional church string choir in favor of a new pipe organ, and Dick Dewy's courtship of the new schoolmistress, Fancy Day. It was a good read.