Chosen

''A delicate novel, finely judged and full of insight'' Hilary Mantel SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD 2023 One Wednesday morning in November 1912 the ageing Thomas Hardy, entombed by paper and books and increasingly estranged from his wife Emma, finds her dying in her bedroom. Between his speaking to her and taking her in his arms, she has gone. The day before, he and Emma had exchanged bitter words - leading Hardy to wonder whether all husbands and wives end up as enemies to each other. His family and Florence Dugdale, the much younger woman with whom he has been in a relationship, assume that he will be happy and relieved to be set free. But he is left shattered by the loss. Hardy''s bewilderment only increases when, sorting through Emma''s effects, he comes across a set of diaries that she had secretly kept about their life together, ominously titled ''What