This is the ''Penguin English Library Edition'' of ''Far From the Madding Crowd'' by Thomas Hardy. 'I cannot allow any man to - to criticise my private conduct!' she exclaimed. 'Nor will I for a minute'. Hardy's powerful novel of swift sexual passion and slow-burning loyalty centres on Bathsheba Everdene, a proud working woman whose life is complicated by three different men - respectable farmer Boldwood, seductive Sergeant Troy and devoted Gabriel - making her the object of scandal and betrayal. Vividly portraying the superstitions and traditions of a small rural community, ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' shows the precarious position of a woman in a man's world. ''The Penguin English Library'' - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.