Hardy’s Women: Double Bill

Paula Byrne: Hardy Women: Mother, Sisters, Wives, Muses – Talk: 8pm
Tess’s Sisters: Songs of the Working Women of Hardy’s Wessex – Performance: 9pm

Tickets On Sale Now to the general public as a separate event

Part of the 2026 THS Conference & Festival Programme

(This event follows the Welcome Dinner for THS Conference Delegates and is included with a Full Conference Ticket)

Paula Byrne: Hardy Women: Mother, Sisters, Wives, Muses

Paula Byrne takes readers on a journey through the defining moments of Hardy’s personal and creative life, from his haunting fascination with a public hanging to the tender yet unfulfilled loves that coloured his poetry, and the realities of nineteenth-century working women who, in many ways, mirrored the resilience of his fictional heroines.

Hardy Women reveals how the strength, struggles, and spirit of the real women in Hardy’s world fueled his literary genius. Without their influence—whether as sources of inspiration or sources of pain—his unforgettable female protagonists might never have come to life. Only by understanding these “Hardy women” can we truly grasp the depth of Hardy’s imagination, his contradictions, and his enduring legacy as both a novelist and a poet.

Paula will talk about what inspired her to research Hardy and the other subjects of her biographies, as well as her life, career and the projects she is currently working on.

The book will be available to purchase on the evening

Tess’s Sisters: Songs of the Working Women of Hardy’s Wessex

Caroline Butler & Dave Townsend of The Mellstock Band Voices, Concertina & Fiddle

Tess’s Sisters is a concert of songs and instrumental music, linked by spoken extracts from Hardy’s works and other writings and documents, celebrating the vigorous tradition Hardy knew, bringing to life the songs and stories of the rural working-class women of nineteenth-century Dorset.