Books with title Tess of The D'ubervilles

Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a dolorous display of a young lady who faces a painful choice in the pursuit of happiness. Because of her family's poverty, Tess Durbeyfield is forced seek a portion of the family wealth by claiming lineage with the rich D'Urbervilles. Her 'cousin' Alec seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must decide whether to reveal her past or keep the secret in the hope of a better future. This classic novel is powerful criticism of social convention and a sad depiction of young Tess, who has been wronged. Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy's novels. When it was published for the first time in 1891, this novel shocked readers with the distress that Tess had to endure and by challenging the sexual mores of late Victorian England. Thomas Hardy was first a poet, publishing over 900 poems, but he also wrote some of the 19th century's greatest novels, including Far from the Madding Crowd.

In Tess, victimized by lust, poverty, and hypocrisy, Thomas Hardy created no standard Victorian heroine, but a woman whose intense vitality flares unforgettably against the bleak background of a dying rural society. Shaped by an acute sense of social injustice and by a vision of human fate cosmic in scope, her story is a singular blending of harsh realism and indelibly poignant beauty. The novel shocked its Victorian audience with its honesty; it remains a triumph of literary art and a timeless commentary on the human condition.

Beautiful new edition with cover from David DeanFaber Childrens Classics have accessible font sizes for easier reading.Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor villager, learns she may be descendant from the rich d’Urberville family. She fails to claim kinship and is taken advantage of by the libertine Alec d’Urberville. She then meets the son of a local reverend, Angel Clare, who she begins to fall in love with, but tragedy follows Tess as she continues to run from her past. Will she get her chance at love or will her past doom her future?

When John Durbeyfield learns that he is descended from ancient Norman stock, he and his wife encourage their daughter Tess to befriend the neighboring family of Stoke-dUrbervilles. Their charming but self-centered son Alec is frustrated by her lack of interest in him. He forces himself on Tess, and she has a child which dies. In search of a way to begin her life afresh, Tess moves away and works as a dairymaid on a farm. She meets Angel Clare, a parsons son, and following a blissful summer she overcomes her uncertainty and accepts his hand in marriage. But on their wedding night he learns of her past and rejects her in disgust. Finding new employment with the tyrannical Farmer Groby, Tess crosses paths with Alec once again. Forced by financial necessity, she becomes his mistressuntil Angels return from Brazil sparks a tragic chain of events.