The Withered Arm is written by Thomas Hardy, and he is one of the giants of Victorian literature. The story is set in rural England in the 1880s on a milk farm. As the story opens we meet a strange solitary milkmaid, Rhonda Brooks who works for the farm owner, Mr. Lodge. She has a 12-year-old-or-so son and we quickly gather there was once a relationship between her and Mr. Lodge and we think Mr. Lodge is probably the father of her son. A rumor spreads around the farm that Mr. Lodge is to marry. Everyone, especially Rhonda, begins to at once wonder what the soon-to-be Mrs. Lodge is like. And then the story begins with a lot of surprising plots. All in all, The Withered Arm is a wonderful tale in the Gothic manner.

托马斯·哈代（1840-1928），英国诗人、小说家。他是横跨两个世纪的作家，早期和中期的创作以小说为主，继承和发扬了维多利亚时代的文学传统；晚年以其出色的诗歌开拓了英国20世纪的文学。《萎缩的胳臂》是他的代表作之一。