Thomas Hardy 
A Pair of Blue Eyes 

A Pair of Blue Eyes is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1873, first serialised between September 1872 and July 1873. It was Hardy’s third published novel, and the first not published anonymously upon its first publication. Hardy included it with his ‘romances and fantasies’. A Pair of Blue Eyes, set in Cornwall, contains autobiographical elements, romance, suspense, and a post-Darwinian message. The young heroine of the novel combines the features of both Hardy’s youthful loves, Tryphena Sparks and his first wife Emma, who had blue eyes and a cascade of blond hair.