Tess of the D'Urbervilles
/tes əv ðə ˈdɜːbəvɪlz/
/ˌtes əv ðə ˈdɜːrbərvɪlz/
- a novel (1891) by Thomas Hardy. It tells the sad story of a young woman, Tess, and the troubles she has in her relationships with two men. She marries one and kills the other, for which she is hanged. Many readers were shocked by the book's unhappy ending when it was first published.