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StoryPDFThe Withered ArmThomas Hardy

The Withered Arm

Thomas Hardy

Complete text
ShortEnglish

Rhoda Brook hears that the farmer who once courted her is bringing home a young bride. Her curiosity and resentment become entangled with a disturbing dream, and an unexplained affliction draws the two women into a relationship shaped by sympathy, suspicion, and rural belief.

9 sections10,570 wordsAbout 48 min
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About The Withered Arm

Hardy allows a supernatural explanation to develop inside a recognizable economy of work, reputation, and unequal power. The women's positions differ, but both are vulnerable to the same social arrangements. The story's force comes from the way attempts to relieve suffering can deepen uncertainty about responsibility rather than establishing a clear division between victim and wrongdoer.

Reading focus

Read a rural tale where an uncanny affliction entangles two women already linked by unequal love, gossip, and limited choices.

This reading edition contains 10,570 words in 9 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Thomas Hardy. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

It was an eighty-cow dairy, and the troop of milkers, regular and supernumerary, were all at work; for, though the time of year was as yet but early April, the feed lay entirely in water-meadows, and the cows were ‘in full pail.’ The hour was about six in the evening, and three-fourths of the large, red, rectangular animals having been finished off, there was opportunity for a little conversation.

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Contents

All sections
  1. CHAPTER I—A LORN MILKMAID4 min
  2. CHAPTER II—THE YOUNG WIFE6 min
  3. CHAPTER III—A VISION7 min
  4. CHAPTER IV—A SUGGESTION6 min
  5. CHAPTER V—CONJUROR TRENDLE5 min
  6. CHAPTER VI—A SECOND ATTEMPT5 min
  7. CHAPTER VII—A RIDE8 min
  8. CHAPTER VIII—A WATER-SIDE HERMIT5 min
  9. CHAPTER IX—A RENCOUNTER5 min

Reading & download help

Is this the complete The Withered Arm?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 9 sections and 10,570 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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A4 is designed for 210 × 297 mm paper; US Letter for 8.5 × 11 inch paper. Both contain the same complete text, selectable text and section bookmarks.

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