A BRAND new exhibition at the home of writer Thomas Hardy will reveal the voice of his first wife Emma, who spent 14 years living in the attic.

‘In Emma’s Words’ is a new installation at Max Gate, which contains extracts of her writings and letters where she lent her voice to social and political causes, and also spoke frankly and bitterly of her 38-year marriage with Hardy.

The installation has been organised by the National Trust who is custodian of both Max Gate, the house that Hardy designed himself in Dorchester, and Hardy’s Cottage at Higher Bockhampton, where he was born and brought up.

Martin Stephen, the National Trust’s Visitor Experience Manager for Hardy Country, said: “Emma Hardy spent most of her married life in this house in which her husband wrote some of his most famous novels – including Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure – and most of his wonderful poetry. Quite rightly, the Trust offers visitors the chance to explore Hardy the writer in the home he designed for himself.

“But we also want to give visitors the opportunity to explore the life and writings of Emma, in order not just to throw light on their relationship but to understand this spirited woman of her time who was passionate in her defence of the causes she believed in, including the rights of women and animal welfare.”

Thomas Hardy married Emma Gifford in 1874. They remained childless, and became increasingly estranged, with Emma eventually retreating to the two attic rooms of Max Gate where she chose to live for the last 14 years of her life. In spite of this they continued to share many interests, including a love of animals and cycling, well into older age.