The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy - Bournemouth Pier, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK - Literary Sites on Waymarking.com

This novel was written by the famous author in 1876 and the book describes the old wooden pier, since replaced. Bournemouth town is known as 'Sandbourne' in Thomas Hardy's books and Dorset as 'Wessex'. There is a famous Hardy trail with information boards detailing aspects of Hardy's life and novels throughout the county. One is pictured, located in the nearby Lower Gardens.

A synopsis of the novel can be found here: visit link

pportunistic yet ultimately loyal adventuress who begins life humbly and ends as the wife of a rakish aristocrat, THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA will surprise readers of Thomas Hardy's more familiar, and darker, Wessex novels. Hardy combines elements of domestic melodrama and drawing-room farce with calculated irreverence for literary form.'

A guide to Literary Bournemouth in the 19th Century by http://www.boscombe.org.uk/v2/literature_1.html lists some interesting details:

'Thomas Hardy visited the town when shopping for a matrimonial home in 1872, calling it “a city set in a garden” and “a complete and extensive watering place ... a city of detached mansions”. It is a setting in his The Hand of Ethelberta (1876) and Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891). He remarked that “on the very edge of that tawny piece of antiquity (Hardy’s beloved heath), such a glittering novelty as this pleasure city had chosen to spring up ... a Mediterranean lounging-place on the English Channel”. He concluded: “The pines, the chines, steeply-rising cliffs, parks, gardens, heathlands, amusements, esplanades, sands, and sprawl add up to the strange unique character of Bournemouth. A fascinating, pine-scented phenomenon”.'

Short Description: Bournemouth Pier and Bournemouth town feature as locations in this novel by Thomas Hardy. Book Title: The Hand of Ethelberta Author's Name: Thomas Hardy Name of Waymarked Item: Bournemouth Pier Location of Item: Bournemouth seaside More Information: Bournemouth known as Sandbourne from http://www.lymeregis.com/hardy_country/index.html 'Features in The Hand of Ethelberta. Here Christopher Julian lived and taught music. It was from Sandbourne that Sol Chickerel and Lord Mountclere's brother attempted to reach Knollsea by sea to prevent Ethelberta's marriage to Lord Mountclere. Afterwards she provided her father with a smart villa at Sandbourne for his retirement.' Admission Price?: 0.00 (listed in local currency) Link to more information about the book or waymarked item.: [Web Link] First Year Published: Not listed

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