Bauer Books & Thomas Hardy 
The Trumpet-Major 

Like the waves at the coast near to the town that provides the setting for the story, the central plot of relationships between Anne and her various suitors flows in and out, in and out, until the end. These plot undulations effectively create the wary feeling that either everyone is going to end up happy, or everyone is going to end up crushed, alone, dead, or a combination of these latter three.