Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Set in Hardy’s Wessex, Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, A Pure Woman, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic.

It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descended from the ancient family of D’Uberville. In her search for respectability her fortunes fluctuate wildly, and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy.

It explores Tess’s relationships with two very different men, her struggle against the social mores of the rural Victorian world which she inhabits and the hypocrisy of the age.

About the Talking Classics

These audio books represent some of the greatest works of fiction ever written in the English language. Each expertly abridged novel has been selected for its narrative power, range of characters and its place in our literary heritage. Authors span the full spectrum from the brooding romance of the Bronte sisters and George Elliot to the gothic charms of Charles Dickens and Henry James.

Talking Classics is narrated by assembly of well-known and prolific actors, including Martin Shaw, Hannah Gordon, Jenny Agutter, Martin Jarvis, Joanna Lumley and Robert Powell. Originally issued on audio cassettes in the early 1990s, each story is presented over a double CD, running at approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes each.