Tess of the D'Urbervilles

'Thomas Hardy's thrilling story of seduction, murder, cruelty and betrayal' The Times

Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich 'relatives', the D'Urbervilles. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal.

When she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret...

Review: Thomas Hardy's thrilling story of seduction, murder, cruelty and betrayal * The Times *
Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination... Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting -- Irving Howe
Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles has a lush sensuality about the heat of summer and the heat of lust which makes the gorgeousness of Hardy's heroine and his country of Wessex both seems utterly desirable as the tale of tragic fate unfolds * The Times *
Hardy never used his "country" and his Greek ambitions to better effect -- Melvyn Bragg
Tess's beauty and the effect that it has on others gave me a sense of the destructive power of sex -- Rufus Wainwright