Get personalized recommendations and earn points toward a free book!
Before you go...
Check Out
The Bestselling Books of All Time
See the List

Tess of the d’Urbervilles

A Pure Woman

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by James Wood

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by James Wood

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Robert B. Heilman

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Robert B. Heilman

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Patricia Ingham

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Patricia Ingham

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy

Best Seller

Part of Modern Library Classics

Part of Everyman’s Library Classics Series

Paperback $10.00

Feb 13, 2001 | 544 Pages

Mass Market Paperback $6.95

May 01, 1984 | 480 Pages *This format is not eligible to earn points towards the Reader Rewards program

Hardcover $24.00

Nov 26, 1991 | 522 Pages

Ebook $1.99

Nov 23, 2004 | 480 Pages

Ebook $2.99

Nov 01, 2000 | 544 Pages

All Formats
+
    Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
    Paperback
    Feb 13, 2001 | 544 Pages
    See All Formats (4) +

    Paperback (2)
    –

    • Paperback $10.00

      Feb 13, 2001 | 544 Pages

    • Mass Market Paperback $6.95

      May 01, 1984 | 480 Pages

      *This format is not eligible to earn points towards the Reader Rewards program

    Hardcover
    +

    • Hardcover $24.00

      Nov 26, 1991 | 522 Pages

    Ebook (2)
    +

    • Ebook $1.99

      Nov 23, 2004 | 480 Pages

    • Ebook $2.99

      Nov 01, 2000 | 544 Pages

    Buy the Ebook:

    About Tess of the d’Urbervilles

    Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the d’Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy’s ‘bestseller,’ and Tess Durbeyfield remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men—Alec d’Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving husband—Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act.

    ‘Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination,’ said Irving Howe. ‘In Tess he stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman’s life, a girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine strength. . . . Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting.’

    Now Tess of the d’Urbervilles has been brought to television in a magnificent new co-production from A&E Network and London Weekend Television. Justine Waddell (Anna Karenina) stars as the tragic heroine, Tess; Oliver Milburn (Chandler & Co.) is Angel Clare; and Jason Flemyng is Alec d’Urberville. The cast also includes John McEnery (Black Beauty) as Jack Durbeyfield and Lesley Dunlop (The Elephant Man) as Joan Durbeyfield. Tess of the d’Urbervilles is directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Sarah Wilson, with a screenplay by Ted Whitehead; it was filmed in Hardy country, the beautiful English countryside in Dorset where Thomas Hardy set his novels.

    About Tess of the d’Urbervilles

    Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield is the magnificent and spirited heroine of Thomas Hardy’s immortal work. Of all the great English novelists, no one writes more eloquently of tragic destiny than Hardy. With the innocent and powerless victim Tess, he creates profound sympathy for human frailty while passionately indicting the injustices of Victorian society. Scorned by outraged readers upon its publication in 1891, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is today one of the enduring classics of nineteenth-century literature.

    About Tess of the d’Urbervilles

    Set in the magical Wessex landscape so familiar from Thomas Hardy’s early work, Tess of the D’Urbervilles is unique among his great novels for the intense feeling that he lavished upon his heroine, Tess, a pure woman betrayed by love.

    Hardy poured all of his profound empathy for both humanity and the rhythms of natural life into this story of her beauty, goodness, and tragic fate. In so doing, he created a character who, like Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina, has achieved classic stature.

    (Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)
     

    About Tess of the d’Urbervilles

            

    Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the d’Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy’s "bestseller," and Tess Durbeyfield remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men–Alec d’Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving husband–Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act.
    —-"Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination," said Irving Howe. "In Tess he stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman’s life, a girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine strength. . . . Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting."
    —-Now Tess of the d’Urbervilles has been brought to television in a magnificent new co-production from A&E Network and London Weekend Television. Justine Waddell (Anna Karenina) stars as the tragic heroine, Tess; Oliver Milburn (Chandler & Co.) is Angel Clare; and Jason Flemyng is Alec d’Urberville. The cast also includes John McEnery (Black Beauty) as Jack Durbeyfield and Lesley Dunlop (The Elephant Man) as Joan Durbeyfield. Tess of the d’Urbervilles is directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Sarah Wilson, with a screenplay by Ted Whitehead; it was filmed in Hardy country, the beautiful English countryside in Dorset where Thomas Hardy set his novels.

    The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-
    dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library’s seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world’s best books, at the best prices.

    About Tess of the d’Urbervilles

    Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the d’Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy’s ‘bestseller,’ and Tess Durbeyfield remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men—Alec d’Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving husband—Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act.

    ‘Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination,’ said Irving Howe. ‘In Tess he stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman’s life, a girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine strength. . . . Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting.’

    Now Tess of the d’Urbervilles has been brought to television in a magnificent new co-production from A&E Network and London Weekend Television. Justine Waddell (Anna Karenina) stars as the tragic heroine, Tess; Oliver Milburn (Chandler & Co.) is Angel Clare; and Jason Flemyng is Alec d’Urberville. The cast also includes John McEnery (Black Beauty) as Jack Durbeyfield and Lesley Dunlop (The Elephant Man) as Joan Durbeyfield. Tess of the d’Urbervilles is directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Sarah Wilson, with a screenplay by Ted Whitehead; it was filmed in Hardy country, the beautiful English countryside in Dorset where Thomas Hardy set his novels.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Far from the Madding Crowd (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Far from the Madding Crowd (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Far from the Madding Crowd (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Far from the Madding Crowd (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Far from the Madding Crowd (Movie Tie-in Edition)
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    Product Details

    Category: Fiction Classics | Romance | Historical Fiction

    Paperback | $10.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Feb 13, 2001 | 544 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780375756795

    Category: Fiction Classics | Romance | Historical Fiction

    Mass Market Paperback | $6.95
    Published by Bantam Classics
    May 01, 1984 | 480 Pages | 4-3/16 x 6-7/8 | ISBN 9780553211689

    Category: Fiction Classics | Romance | Historical Fiction

    Hardcover | $24.00
    Published by Everyman’s Library
    Nov 26, 1991 | 522 Pages | 4-7/8 x 8 | ISBN 9780679405863

    Category: Fiction Classics | Romance | Historical Fiction

    Ebook | $1.99
    Published by Bantam Classics
    Nov 23, 2004 | 480 Pages | ISBN 9780553900828

    Category: Fiction Classics | Romance | Historical Fiction

    Ebook | $2.99
    Published by Modern Library
    Nov 01, 2000 | 544 Pages | ISBN 9780679641513

    People Who Read Tess of the d’Urbervilles Also Read

    ‹ ›
    Hard Country
    The Street Sweeper
    The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead
    The Death Instinct
    The Gendarme
    The Little Bride
    A Battle Won
    Blue-Eyed Devil
    Under Heaven
    The Creation of Eve
    India Black
    Lily of the Nile
    The Kingdom of Ohio
    Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon
    Dracula the Un-Dead
    What Remains of Heaven
    The Secret Eleanor
    The Jewel of St. Petersburg
    Water Ghosts
    The Quickening Maze
    The Queen's Pawn
    A Quiet Flame
    Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
    Becoming Jane Eyre
    Her Mother's Daughter
    Sand Daughter
    The Queen's Mistake
    The Ninth Daughter
    Murder on Astor Place
    The Widow's War
    The Convict's Sword
    The French Mistress
    The Tory Widow
    Mistress of the Revolution
    A Plague of Poison
    Before Green Gables
    Signora Da Vinci
    Beside a Burning Sea
    Attack of the Theater People
    The Triumph of Deborah
    Lady of the Roses
    The Spanish Bride
    The Old Wives' Tale
    Heart of Darkness and the Congo Diary
    Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam

    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Praise

    “[Tess of the D’Urbervilles is] Hardy’s finest, most complex and most notorious novel . . . The novel is not a mere plea for compassion for the eternal victim, though that is the banner it flies. It also involves a profound questioning of contemporary morality.” –from the Introduction by Patricia Ingham

    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read
    TASTE img

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook

    LitFlash

    The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

    Read it Forward

    Read it first. Pass it on!