Tess of The d'Urbervilles
Tess of The d'Urbervilles بقلم توماس هاردي ... That's it there needs to be a new genre - Dark Classics! Going so much against the grain of the times, this is the story of Tess Durbeyfield trying to live her life in 19th century England; eldest daughter to aspirational educated rural working class parents with their sights on their wealthier 'family' the D'Urberville's. With family tragedies, deaths, sexual harassment and assault(!), gender inequality, eschewed religious values and more, Tess maintains a pretty clear idea of her wants, needs and personal moral compass, balancing them against her struggling family's needs throughout this relentlessly well constructed true classic, a dark Victorian 'romantic' saga with the masks of civility completely ripped off; as this is read, it leaves little to the imagination of how the power of male dominance is used and abused in the day