There"s a tale that goes around even now regarding Thomas Hardy -- that is, that the reaction of readers to one of his novels was so intense -- and so disturbing! -- that he swore off novels and spent the rest of his life committing poetry. Well, the story is true, the way it happens, and this is the book responsible: Jude the Obscure. This is the book that created thunderstorms of antipathy so intense that Hardy just didn"t want to face it again, ever. Read it now and see what the fuss was all about!