Young Adult Readers. Tess of the d'Urbervilles

"A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented"

The story, set in a poor rural area of England in the 19th century, centres around Tess Durbeyfield, a sweet, innocent, country girl who is a victim of fate and her own beauty.

When her lazy father finds out that his ancestors were the noble d'Urberville family, he dreams of winning back this glory for his own family. Tess, 16 years old at the start of the story and the eldest of seven children, is pushed by her parents to go and work for Alec d'Urberville who will change Tess's life in a dramatic way. In the middle of the chaos caused by Alec d'Urberville, Tess meets Angel Clare. Will he love her forever as he promises, without judging her for her past? Or will Alec d'Urberville become her master?

Read and find out.

Grammar and structures: Present simple and continuous, past simple and continuous, present and past perfect simple. Future with go-ing to and will. Passive forms. Modal verbs. Verb + infinitive, verb + ing. Phrasal verbs. First and second conditional. Comparatives and superlatives.

In this Reader you will find information about Thomas Hardy and his times and a section about Stonehenge.