This was my first Hardy novel and it won't be my last, with any luck. I don't know if all of his books are like this, as I've been told this was particularly gloomy, but I did like it. There wasn't really a plot, per se, but it was interesting more in the way a soap opera gets you involved in the character's lives. The women in the story are appalling, the men are pathetic, and the situations are tragic- but it all made for good reading.