Tess of the D'Urbervilles

“Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance of discovering in that way;”

Hardy’s fictional masterpiece, Tess of the D’Urbervilles traces the life of the young country girl Tess Durbeyfield. Driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D’Urberville family, the innocent Tess crosses paths with her ‘cousin’, the dissolute Alec and the gentleman, Angel Clare, with tragic results. Hardy’s heroine is one of the most moving in all of literature, and her story is hauntingly brought to life in this new version by Hotbuckle.