Hardy characters live in it (6)
I believe the answer is:
wessex
'hardy characters live in it' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'live in it' is the wordplay.
'live in' becomes 'wes' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'it' becomes 'sex' ('it' is a common euphemism for sex).
'wes'+'sex'='WESSEX'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wessex that I've seen before include "Hardy's West Country" , "Saxon kingdom" , "Thomas Hardy's domain" , "Former kingdom in southern England" , "Thomas Hardy's Dorset" .)