Thomas Hardy biography by Claire Tomalin

How excited I was when this book arrived. I have read Far From The Madding Crowd and am reading The major Of Casterbridge, so I wanted to know more about the author of these books. It is very well written and it was hard to put it away. There were some things that struck me in this book. Hardy started courting Emma, but they married after they met a few times (in 4 years that is), and from what I read in the book it doesn't look like it was a very happy marriage. So was his second marriage. When I read the book I had the feeling that Hardy was a bit of a depressing man. I can be wrong ofcourse, but the way he wrote his books and the way he behaved towards people made me think that. I can't compare the situation of then with the situation now. Times were different then and I am very happy that I live today and not in the time Hardy lived. As I said the book was well written, but I doubt if I would have liked Hardy when he was alive. There are also some photos and drawings in the book and they look nice and give a good view of the time people lived in, in the time Hardy lived. I have more biographies, by Robert Gittings, but for now I leave them for what they are. I felt a bit down when I did finish the book by Clairt Tomalin, and I want to feel happy.