Tess Durbeyfield is a beautiful and innocent country girl, living in a village in the south of England. Her simple life is suddenly changed when the family horse is killed, and Tess's father discovers that the family is descended from the old and noble d'Urbervilles.

Tess goes to live with her relations, but finds they are not what they seem. After four months, she escapes. Later she goes to work on a dairy farm forty miles away, taking with her a terrible secret.

At the dairy, Tess falls in love with the handsome Angel Clare. Should she tell him of her mysterious past? Read this romantic story and decide for yourself.

Thomas Hardy lived and worked in the second half of the nineteenth century. His stories of country life in south-west England are among the most popular in English literature. Two more of Hardy's novels are available as Oxford Progressive English Readers: Far from the Madding Crowd in Grade 4 and The Mayor of Casterbridge in Grade 5.

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