Jude the Obscure

With its frank and fearless depiction of sexual relationships, Hardy's last novel provoked outrage and was even burned in public when it was published in 1895.

It tells the story of Jude Fawley, who longs to go to university but is excluded by his class and trapped into a foolish marriage. When he finds work as a stonemason in Christminster and falls in love with his cousin, the freethinking Sue Brideshead, they live together openly and as a result are shunned by society. For Jude, ever the outsider, the effects are devastating.

About the Author

Formerly a prize-winning architectural student, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) went on to become a prolific novelist and poet. Jude the Obscure caused outrage upon publication in 1895 - dubbed 'Jude the Obscene' by some, it was publicly burnt by the Bishop of Wakefield - and its negative reception induced Hardy to turn his efforts exclusively to poetry, making Jude the last novel he wrote. It is now recognised as a work of astounding literary and emotional power, a huge part of its strength lying in the uncomfortable explorations of sex, class and education that caused such outrage upon publication. Hardy's novels Under the Greenwood Tree, Far From the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, Two on a Tower, The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the D'Urbervilles are also published in the Penguin English Library.