Order of Book Series
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Thomas Hardy Books in Order

20 books are credited to Thomas Hardy, published between 1871 and 2023; 3 of them appeared after Thomas Hardy's death in 1928. The first book is Desperate Remedies (1871) and the newest is Woman Much Missed (2023). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
20
Published
1871–2023
Confirmed
1 of 20 titles
Pages on record
6,295 in 15 of 20 books
Reading time
105–157 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 6,295 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 15 of 20 titles with a page count on record.

See all 20 books in order Printable Thomas Hardy checklist
Photo of Thomas Hardy, author

Wessex (England) appears in the subject headings for Thomas Hardy, alongside adultery, love triangles and rural social customs. Hardy was an English novelist, poet and architect, born 2 June 1840 and died 11 January 1928. Hardy wrote as a Victorian realist in the line of George Eliot, drew on Romanticism including Wordsworth, and was sharply critical of Victorian society, above all the falling status of rural people in South West England. Poetry mattered most to Hardy, though the first collection came only in 1898. The catalogue lists 20 books, beginning with Desperate Remedies (1871), Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) and Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), with The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) among the later titles.

How many Thomas Hardy books are there?

Thomas Hardy has 20 books, released between 1871 and 2023. 3 of them were published after Thomas Hardy's death in 1928.

Thomas Hardy Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 20 Thomas Hardy books in the order they were released, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy (1871)
  2. Cover of Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy (1872)
  3. Cover of Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (1874)
  4. Cover of The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy (1876)
  5. Cover of The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (1878)
  6. Cover of The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy (1880)
  7. Cover of A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy (1881)
  8. Cover of Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy (1882)
  9. Cover of The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (1886)
  10. Cover of The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy (1887)
  11. Cover of Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (1891)
  12. Cover of The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy (1892)
  13. Cover of The Complete Poems by Thomas Hardy (1977)
  14. Cover of Hardy: Poems by Thomas Hardy, book 13 of the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series (1977)
  1. 1
    Desperate Remedies1871 · confirmed 1/4
    1871–
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  2. 2
    Under the Greenwood Tree1872 · 224 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1872224
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  3. 3
    A Pair of Blue Eyes1873 · 432 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1873432
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  4. 4
    Far From the Madding Crowd1874 · 433 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1874433
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  5. 5
    The Hand of Ethelberta1876 · 462 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1876462
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  6. 6
    The Return of the Native1878 · 384 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1878384
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  7. 7
    The Trumpet-Major1880 · 257 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1880257
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  8. 8
    A Laodicean1881 · 427 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1881427
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  9. 9
    Two on a Tower1882 · 295 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1882295
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  10. 10
    The Mayor of Casterbridge1886 · 461 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1886461
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  11. 11
    The Woodlanders1887 · 360 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1887360
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  12. 12
    The Withered Arm1888 · confirmed 1/4
    1888–
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  13. 13
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles1891 · 517 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1891517
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  14. 14
    The Well-Beloved1892 · 368 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1892368
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  15. 15
    Our Exploits at West Poley1893 · confirmed 1/4
    1893–
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  16. 16
    Jude the Obscure1895 · 416 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1895416
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  17. 17
    Collected Short Stories1928 · confirmed 1/4
    1928–
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  18. 18
    The Complete Poems1977 · 1003 pages · confirmed 1/4
    19771003
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  19. 19
    Hardy: PoemsEveryman's Library Pocket Poets #131977 · 256 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1977256
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  20. 20
    Woman Much Missed2023 · confirmed 1/4
    2023–
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Thomas Hardy books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Everyman's Library Pocket Poets in order

1 book
  1. 13. Hardy: Poems

Standalone books

19 books

19 Thomas Hardy titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Thomas Hardy Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Thomas Hardy books run from Desperate Remedies (1871) to Woman Much Missed (2023), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Thomas Hardy in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Thomas Hardy books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 20 Thomas Hardy books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Thomas Hardy

Start with Desperate Remedies (1871), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Thomas Hardy book?

Woman Much Missed (2023) is the newest Thomas Hardy book released so far.

Is there a new Thomas Hardy book coming?

No next Thomas Hardy book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Award nominations for Thomas Hardy

Wikidata records 12 nominations for Thomas Hardy. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • Nobel Prize in Literature1927Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1926Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1925Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1924Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1923Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1922Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1920Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1914Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1913Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1912Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1911Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1910Shortlisted

Thomas Hardy at a glance

Died
Thomas Hardy died in 1928, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to Thomas Hardy are still being published after Thomas Hardy's death in 1928; the newest appeared in 2023.
Release pace
Thomas Hardy books have appeared about one every 8 years on average.
Length
6,295 pages across the 15 of 20 books with a recorded length, a median of 416 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Thomas Hardy books, 6 of 20, were published in the 1880s.

What the Thomas Hardy books are about

16 of the 20 Thomas Hardy books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: wessex (england) is tagged on 6 of 16. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.