Tonight, we’ll read an excerpt from “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” a novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1891.

Hardy's writing often explores what he called the "ache of modernism", and this theme is notable in Tess, which as one critic noted portrays "the energy of traditional ways and the strength of the forces that are destroying them".

The book, now considered a major work of it’s time, received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.