Tess of the d'Urbervilles

This age-old tale of the maid who goes to the greenwood and returns a maiden no more becomes in Hardy's hands an indictment of all the crimes and hypocrisies of nineteenth-century England - its pharisaic religion, its cruel class-system, the destruction of its traditional agriculture and the perversions of the 'modern' consciousness. It becomes even more than that: no less than an allegory of the pitiful plight of humanity in a cosmos which has no use for its desires and feelings. Of all Hardy's heroines the milkmaid Tess is, by common consent, the most touching, and of all his novels this is the one with the most universal range. Hardy was never more masterly than here in evoking a vanished rural way of life; and even this most tragic of his books is lightened by his delightful and clear-eyed humour.

Published 1978.

Binding of book is intact. Moderate shelfwear and creasing on covers of book. Heavy tanning and foxing on edges of book. Heavy foxing and few waterstains on insides of covers. Moderate foxing and few waterstains on certain pages.