Hardy's novel tells the story of how John and Joan Durbeyfield became convinced that they are descended from the ancient family of d'Ubervilles. They encourage their daughter Tess to cement a connection with the Stoke-d'Uberville family of local gentry (who it turns out are themselves not entitled to the illustrious name) and she is raped by their son, the unprincipled Alec. It is a connection that returns to haunt her after she has married the pure parson's son Angel Clare. Tess first appeared in a serialized—and bowdlerized—form in The Graphic in 1891. A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, as Hardy subtitled the work, represented a direct challenge to conventional notions of sexuality and femininity—and, though conventions have radically changed in the past century, the character of Tess has remained a challenging one. In her introduction Maier argues that we should not see Tess merely as a passive victim; she suggests that a combination of sexual vigour and moral rigour makes Tess not just one of the greatest but also one of the strongest women in the canon of English literature.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles (HarperCollinsAudioBooks)

Literature & Fiction

HARDY, THOMAS

British & Irish

HarperCollins, UK

An immediate success when it was first published in 1874, Thomas Hardy's 'pastoral tale' of the wilful and capricious Bathsheba Everdene, her three suitors - the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, the lonely widower Farmer Boldwood, and the dashing but faithless Sergeant Troy - and the tragic consequence of her eventual choice remains one of the most enduring and popular English novels.

Far from the Madding Crowd (HarperCollinsAudioBooks)

Contemporary

The Woodlanders (HarperCollinsAudioBooks)

Literary

Perfect condition, never been used. None of the great Victorian novels is more vivid and readable than The Mayor of Casterbridge. Set in the heart of Hardy's Wessex, the 'partly real, partly dream country' he founded on his native Dorset, it charts the rise and self-induced downfall of a single 'man of character'. The fast-moving and ingeniously contrived narrative is Shakespearian in its tragic force, and features some of the author's most striking episodes and brilliant passages of description.

The Mayor of Casterbridge (Gift Classics)

Collins

Far From the Madding Crowd.

Easton

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill    As for Tess Durbeyfield, she did not so easily dislodge the incident from her consideration. She had no spirit to dance again for a long time, though she might have had plenty of partners; but, ah! they did not speak so nicely as the strange young man had done. It was not till the rays of the sun had absorbed the young stranger's retreating figure on the hill that she shook off her temporary sadness and answered her would-be partner in the affirmative.    She remained with her comrades till dusk, and participated with a certain zest in the dancing; though being heart-whole as yet, she enjoyed treading a measure purely for its own sake; little divining when she saw 'the soft torments, the bitter sweets, the pleasing pains, and the agreeable distresses' of those girls who had been wooed and won, what she herself was capable of in that kind. The struggles and wrangles of the lads for her hand in a jig were an amusement to her—no more; and when they became fierce she rebuked them.    She might have stayed even later, but the incident of her father's odd appearance and manner returned upon the girl's mind to make her anxious, and wondering what had become of him, she dropped away from the dancers and bent her steps towards the end of the village at which the parental cottage lay.    While yet many score yards off, other rhythmic sounds than those she had quitted became aud'ible to her; sounds that she knew well—so well. They were a regular series of thumpings from the interior of the house, occasioned by the violent rocking of a cradleupon a stone floor, to which movement a feminine voice kept time by singing, in a vigorous gallopade, the favorite ditty of 'The Spotted Cow'—    I saw her lie do'—own in yon'—der green gro'—ove; Come, lovel' and I'll tell' you where!'     The crad...

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

C. Day Lewis

Includes "Far from the Madding Crowd", "The Mayor of Casterbridge", "Tess of the D'Urbervilles", "Under the Greenwood" and "The Woodlanders".

Selected Novels of Thomas Hardy (Collins Classics)

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Guy Fawkes night, Diggory Venn, a reddleman dyed red from his trade, transports a young woman, Thomasin Yeobright, to her aunt's house on Egdon Heath. Despite Venn's love for the sweet-natured Thomasin, he agrees to secure the man of her choice, the fickle innkeeper Damon Wildeve, who delayed his marriage to Thomasin earlier that day. Wildeve is still enchanted by the beautiful Eustacia Vye, who detests the heath upon which she lives with her grandfather and longs for a glamorous life abroad. When Thomasin's cousin, Clym Yeobright, returns from his life as a diamond merchant in Paris, Eustacia sees her chance to escape. However, Wildeve cannot let her go.

Return of the Native (Collins Classics)

William Collins

Far from the Madding Crowd

A tale of love and loss – the first of Thomas Hardy’s novels to win him widespread recognition and popularity – reissued to accompany a major motion picture due for release in May 2015.
‘I shall do one thing in this life – one thing certain – that is, love you, and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die’
Independent and spirited, Bathsheba Everdene owns the hearts of three men. Striving to win her love in different ways, their relationships with Bathsheba complicate her life in bucolic Wessex – and cast shadows over their own. With the morals and expectations of rural society weighing heavily upon her, Bathsheba experiences the torture of unrequited love and betrayal, and discovers how random acts of chance and tragedy can dramatically alter life’s course.
The first of Hardy’s novels to become a major literary success, Far from the Madding Crowd explores what it means to live and to love.

Far From the Madding Crowd

HarperCollins is pround to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'My life looks as if it had been wasted for want of chances! When I see what you know, what you have read, and seen, and thought, I feel what a nothing I am!' Challenging the hypocrisy and social conventions of the rural Victorian world, Tess of the D'Urbervilles follows the story of Tess Durbeyfield as she attempts to escape the poverty of her background, seeking wealth by claiming connection with the aristocratic D'Urberville family. It is through Tess's relationships with two very different men that Hardy tells the story of his tragic heroine, and exposes the double standards of the world that she inhabits with searing pathos and heart-rending sentiment.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Collins Classics)

Humor & Satire

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