Thomas Hardy (1840тАУ1928) was an English poet and regional novelist whose most notable novels are Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Simon Vance, a former BBC Radio presenter and newsreader, is a full-time actor who has appeared on both stage and television. He has recorded over eight hundred audiobooks and has earned five coveted Audie Awards, and he has won fifty-seven Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, which has named him a Golden Voice.