The phrase `life's little ironies' is now proverbial, but it was coined by Hardy as the title for this, his third volume of short stories. Unified by his quintessential irony, strong visual sense, and engaging characters, they deal with the tragic and the humorous, the metaphysical and the magical, and display the whole range of Hardy's art as a writer of fiction. Includes: An Imaginative Woman; The Son's Veto; For Conscience' Sake; A Tragedy of Two Ambitions; On the Western Circuit; To Please His Wife; The Fiddler of the Reels; A Few Crusted Characters
