Thomas Hardy 
Well-Beloved 

Jocelyn Pierston wants above all to find the ideal woman, but perfection is elusive as ever. A masterful sculptor, he starts to grow obsessed with the idea of capturing beauty in stone – and the statue he calls his "well-beloved". But when he falls in love with two women from the same family, three generations apart, his thirst for perfection soon escalates into an uncontrollable desire. With its unique approach to love and marking a shift in Hardy’s emotional and psychological portrayal of his characters, ‘The Well-Beloved’ is a compelling journey through an artist’s erotic obsession and the labyrinthine world of Victorian society. A nightmare version of ‘Pygmalion’, ‘The Well-Beloved’ matches up to Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ with the ultimate tale of tragic love and the pursuit of art.-