Book First: The Three Women

This novel opens with a sweeping view of the Egdon Heath countryside, providing descriptions of the landscape and some sense of its history. In the next chapter, an old man—later identified as Eustacia Vye's grandfather—meets a red dye salesman, known as a reddleman. They briefly discuss Thomasin's marriage, and the old man infers from the reddleman that the wedding has been postponed.

In town, Thomasin meets her aunt and explains that her wedding was called off because of a mix-up with the license. They go to the tavern and receive assurance from Damon Wildeve, her fiancé, that he will marry Thomasin in a day or two. When the locals show up to sing to the newlyweds, they are forced to pretend that the marriage occurred.

After everyone leaves that night, Wildeve sees a bonfire up on the hill nearby the...