Tess of the d'UrbervillesWordsworth Classics #87af Thomas Hardy

Tess is little more than an English farm girl when she meets the man who will change her life: Angel Clare. A kind gentleman and the son of a reverend, Angel could be the answer to Tess’s miserable fate. But with a family on the brink of destitution, she has no time to wait for true love. When another suitor, Alec, begins to fixate on Tess and word of a rich widow by the name of D’Urberville hints at a hidden family fortune, Tess’s life spirals out of control and she is forced to make an impossible choice.
A tale of passion, loss, and cruel hardship, ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ is one of Hardy's most famous and beloved novels. It has been adapted for the stage and screen many times, including the hugely popular BBC series written by David Nicholls and starring Gemma Arterton and Eddie Redmayne. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was an English writer of poetry, novels, and short stories. He belonged to the Victorian realist tradition and was influenced by the writings of Romanticism. His novels strongly criticise Victorian society for constraining individuals in regard to marriage, education, and religion: shunning happiness in the name of social propriety. Hardy’s works explore themes of love, class, and poverty with a painstaking devotion to realism. His best-known works include ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’, ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’, ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’, and ‘Jude the Obscure’.