Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) is Thomas Hardy's the first of his great and successful novels, which won him great renown. A pastoral novel belonging to the category of tragi-comedy is set against the rural background of Wessex, and depicts the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows, the comedy and the tragedy of the life of the rustic people of this region.

The story of the novel centres round Bathsheba Everdene who rejects Gabriel Oak's proposal of marriage with her, because she is bored with the prospect of having always to be near him and of his being near her. Later, falling on evil days, Oak has to work as Bathsheba's shepherd and also her bailiff, and cannot gather courage to renew his proposal.