Publisher's Synopsis
A Pair of Blue Eyes, set in Cornwall, contains autobiographical elements, romance, suspense and a post-Darwinian message. The young heroine of the novel combines the features of both Hardy's youthful loves, Tryphena Sparks and his first wife Emma, who had blue eyes and a cascade of blond hair. The motif of a poor young man of great ability who struggles with adverse circumstances will reappear in many subsequent Hardy novels, including in The Woodlanders, Return of the Native, and Jude the Obscure.
