Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

fiction · EN

Thomas Hardy's masterpiece, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, first published in 1891, is a searing and deeply sympathetic portrait of a woman wronged by fate and societal rigidities. Set in the lush but unforgiving landscape of Hardy's fictional Wessex, it tells the tragic story of Tess Durbeyfield, a simple, beautiful country girl with a pure heart. The narrative begins with a discovery: Tess's father learns his family is descended from the ancient, noble house of the d'Urbervilles. Seeking to escape poverty, the family sends Tess to claim kinship with the wealthy Stoke-d'Urbervilles. This pivotal choice exposes Tess to Alec d'Urberville, a manipulative predator who seduces and violates her, an event that shadows her irrevocably in the eyes of Victorian morality. Despised by society for bearing an illegitimate child, Tess is forced into a life of struggle and i