A Group of Noble dames is an 1891 collection of short stories written by Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...

. It is a frame narrative

Frame story

A frame story is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories...

 in which ten members of a club each tell one story about a noble dame in the 17th or 18th century.

Contents

Part I—Before Dinner

• The First Countess of Wessex by the local historian
• Barbara of the House of Grebe
  Barbara of the House of Grebe
  Barbara of the House of Grebe is the second of ten short stories in Thomas Hardy's frame narrative A Group of Noble Dames. It is told by the old surgeon...
  
  by the old surgeon
• The Marchioness of Stonehenge by the rural dean
• Lady Mottisfont by the sentimental member

Part II—After Dinner

• The Lady Icenway by the churchwarden
• Squire Petrick’s Lady by the crimson maltster
• Anna, Lady Baxby by the colonel
• The Lady Penelope by the man of family
• The Duchess Of Hamptonshire by the quiet gentleman
• The Honourable Laura by the spark

Publication

Hardy wrote the stories in 1890 and 1891. The first six were published in a special number of The Graphic

The Graphic

The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....

. The complete collection was published in book form in 1891.

TV and Film Adaptations

Barbara of the House of Grebe

Barbara of the House of Grebe

Barbara of the House of Grebe is the second of ten short stories in Thomas Hardy's frame narrative A Group of Noble Dames. It is told by the old surgeon...

was adapted as a television drama by the BBC as part of an anthology series called Wessex Tales. Broadcast 12 December 1973 on BBC2.