Tess of the d'Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy's penultimate novel and tells the story of Tess Durbeyfield, who is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune.
In order to make a fresh start, Tess goes to work in Wessex on the Talbothays farm, where she meets the gentle and bookish Angel Clare, the younger son of a parson, who 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.
Set among the lush pastures and bleak uplands of Hardy's imagined Wessex, and filled with unforgettable images of tenderness and tragedy, the story examines conventional morality through Tess, one of the best-loved characters in English literature.