Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

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About Thomas Hardy

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

» Thomas Hardy

Editor - Tim Dolin

Notes by - Tim Dolin

Introduction by - Margaret Randolph Higonnet

Penguin Classic
Paperback : 30 Jan 2003

£6.99

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Synopsis

‘How could I be expected to know? I was a child when I left this house four months ago. Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me?’

When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D’Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her ‘cousin’ Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. With its sensitive depiction of the wronged Tess and powerful criticism of social convention, Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy’s novels.

Based on the three-volume first edition that shocked readers when first published in 1891, this edition includes as appendices: Hardy’s Prefaces, the Landscapes of Tess, episodes originally censored from the Graphic periodical version and a selection of the Graphic illustrations.

The Carte Noire Readers
Watch a video of Greg Wise reading an extract from Tess of the D'Ubervilles.