Two On A Tower

"When love demands a heavy price Lady Viviette Constantine is consumed by boredom and loneliness. Under solemn oath to lead a solitary life during her husband's indefinite absence, each day is a dreary burden. Desire for something to do takes Viviette to Rings-Hill Speer, a lonely tower on her estate, where she finds Swithin St Cleeve, a young astronomer. Swithin's passion for science and his classical beauty enchant Viviette. Though ten years his senior and socially far above him, she becomes infatuated. Swithin awakes to 'a better heaven' beneath the stellar universe which has so absorbed him. While the serenity of the constellations remains undisturbed, events offer the lovers the chance of happiness. But outside the tower the entanglements of convention are inescapable. The most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction, notes, selected criticism, text summary and chronology of Hardy's life and times"