Set in Hardy's Wessex Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy & double standards. Its challenging sub-title A Pure Woman infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891 & it was condemned as immoral & pessimistic. It tells of Tess Durbeyfield the daughter of a poor & dissipated villager who learns that she may be descended from the ancient family of d' Urbeville. In her search for respectability her fortunes fluctuate wildly & 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 & the hypocrisy of the age.