Thomas Hardy

The Trumpet-Major (Illustrated) Thomas Hardy

The Trumpet-Major is a novel written by Thomas Hardy which was published in 1880. It concerns the heroine, Anne Garland, being pursued by three suitors: John Loveday, Bob and Festus Derriman. Unusually for a Hardy novel, the ending is not entirely tragic; however, there remains an ominous element in the probable fate of one of the main characters. The novel is set in Weymouth during the Napoleonic wars; the town was then anxious about the possibility of invasion by Napoleon. Of the two brothers, John fights with Wellington in the Peninsular War, and Bob serves with Nelson at Trafalgar. The Napoleonic Wars was a setting that Hardy would use again in his play.