Two on a Tower

by Thomas Hardy

"Two on a Tower" by Thomas Hardy is a novel published in 1882. Set in Victorian Dorset, it tells the story of Lady Constantine, an unhappily married aristocrat who falls in love with Swithin St. Cleeve, an astronomer ten years younger. Their forbidden romance unfolds against the vast backdrop of the stellar universe, exploring themes of class divide, age difference, and scientific fascination. Hardy sets their emotional lives against the immensity of the cosmos in this controversial tale that defied Victorian social norms.