Book Signing
An Afternoon with Elizabeth Lowry
25 August 2022, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
We are so pleased to be welcoming Elizabeth Lowry to the Museum on August 25th.
Spend the afternoon with Elizabeth for a book signing and reading of her highly praised novel ‘The Chosen’.
Tender, intimate and atmospheric, this haunting novel transports the reader into the austere house and shocked heart one of England’s greatest writers
One morning in November 1912 Thomas Hardy’s wife Emma dies. The two were married for over forty years, though increasingly estranged for the last twenty. Though they lived in the same house, Max Gate in Dorset, by the time of Emma’s death they were no longer speaking, and rarely even met. Emma spent her days and nights upstairs in the attic, while Tom wrote and slept on the floor below.
For the last four years, Tom has been in a tentative relationship with a much younger woman, Florence Dugdale. Like his family – who resented and avoided Emma – Florence assumes that he’ll be glad to be free. He isn’t. He is utterly shattered by the loss of his wife.
While Tom is still overwhelmed with grief he finds both a memoir and a cache of secret diaries by Emma, in which she railed about his failings as a husband, accusing him of having been her gaoler. Why did Thomas Hardy really choose Emma as his wife? What happened to them? What is life like for a woman whose own life and ambitions are buried beneath the artistic career of her husband, as he soars to literary greatness? And why did they never have children?
This is a novel about grief and regret, about Thomas Hardy at seventy-two, about the mystery at the heart of his long marriage to Emma Gifford, and the cost – to him, to those around him – of a writer’s life. Set in the eleven days following Emma’s death, it’s a love story and a ghost story – and the story of how some of the greatest love poems ever written in English, the ‘Poems of 1912-13’, came to exist.
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Opening hours:
Daily: 9.00am - 4.30pm
Sunday: 10.00am - 4.00pm
Bank Holidays: 10.00am - 4.00pm -
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What's On
17 September 2022, 10:00am - 4:00pm
Robin Mackenzie Wood Engraving Workshop
This one-day workshop is perfect for beginners looking to learn a new technique, or for those who have done a little engraving and wish to progress their technique further.
Find out more28 October 2022, 10:30am - 11:30am
Fireside tales from Wessex: Story-telling with Tim Laycock
Participatory folk stories and songs for all the family.
Find out more28 May – 30 October 2022
Take a fresh look at the Victorian novelist and poet, Thomas Hardy, in the stunning Wessex landscapes that shaped his view of the world. His story will be retold in exciting new ways by our museum collections, from period costumes to personal letters, art to archaeology.
Find out more20 June – 16 September 2022
Plastics are not Fantastic
In this exhibition students from Weymouth College express their thoughts about the environment through posters, pledges and artwork.
Find out more16 August 2022, 10:00am - 11:00am
Dorset Museum Highlights Tour
Explore 250 million years of Dorset’s history in this volunteer-led highlights tour of Dorset Museum. Discover Roman mosaics, fossils from the Jurassic Coast, Thomas Hardy manuscripts and the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink – and plenty more along the way.
Find out more16 August 2022, 10:00am - 12noon
Summer ArtyFacts
Inspired by Dorset Museum’s collection and Special Exhibitions, our volunteer-led craft activities are fun and creative.
Find out more18 August 2022, 10:00am - 12noon
Summer ArtyFacts
Inspired by Dorset Museum’s collection and Special Exhibitions, our volunteer-led craft activities are fun and creative.
Find out more23 August 2022, 10:00am - 11:00am
Dorset Museum Highlights Tour
Explore 250 million years of Dorset’s history in this volunteer-led highlights tour of Dorset Museum. Discover Roman mosaics, fossils from the Jurassic Coast, Thomas Hardy manuscripts and the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink – and plenty more along the way.
Find out more23 August 2022, 10:00am - 12noon
Summer ArtyFacts
Victorian cameo silhouettes and gilt frames. Create your own Victorian silhouette and Victorian-style frame, inspired by the Thomas Hardy exhibition, the Hardy gallery and portraits in the Dorset Artists gallery.
Find out more