Tess of the d'Urbervilles cover art

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

By: Thomas Hardy
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £16.02

Buy Now for £16.02

About this listen

 Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable.

When Tess meets Angel Clare, she is offered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her, and she faces an agonizing moral choice.

Thomas Hardy's indictment of society's double standards, and his depiction of Tess as "a pure woman", caused controversy in his day and has held the imagination of readers ever since. Hardy thought it his finest novel and Tess the most deeply felt character he ever created.

Public Domain (P)2008 Tantor Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
All stars
Most relevant
loved it. couldn't wait to come back to it every time. can't believe I waited this long to read it

so happy I finally read it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
one of the best books ive read in a long time, beautifully written and historically interesting

classic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Thomas Hardy brings alive the characters in his story. They are some ways very modern and one feels for their trials and tribulations as if they were neigbours. A wonderful and moving tale exceptionally well read.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tess - a girl of action and decision. She makes choices. However, we are continually frustrated with the choices she makes. She is quite young so we shouldn't be surprised at this. However, part of the great entertainment afforded by this novel is pondering what her alternative choices were and whether those might have resulted in any better an outcome for her.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Simon reads the book with sympathy and portays each of the characters with vivacity.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would quite happily have listened to this book in one sitting. It is an excellent story well read.

Thomas Hardy never fails to please

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Simon Vance gives an immaculate reading of one of Hardy's most beloved tales, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It's one of my favourite Hardy books, and tells the story of Teresa Durbeyfield, a sixteen year old girl, whose father learns that they are, in a minuscule and much reduced way the scion of an aristocratic family, of Norman descent. Tess's good looks, and powerful unconscious magnetism draws upon her the advances of the rakish Alec D'Urberville. This dandyish young man of twenty-four descends from a business magnate who purchased the title in order to elevate his standing in the county of Dorset. Tess is naive of men, and accepts Alec's advances in an ancient wood, not in full realisation of how far Alec will go with his passionate desires.

After this, and a few more weeks sojourn at the home of the false relation, she returns home to her parents. Here she bears a child who dies. In those times, it seemed that the woman was blamed in such situations for not being sufficiently resisting. This is a trait that recurs in Tess many times, she rages forth when she needs to recede. and vice versa. After a period of recuperation she decides to escape the gossips and she finds work in a very jolly dairy. Here she meets the atheist Angel Clare, the son of a clerical family, who in her eyes is some second Apollo, the object of desire for all of the younger dairymaids. Angel unsurprisingly singles her out as his preferred, and they marry. One fateful night, Tess confides the whole of her experiences to Clare on their wedding night. Angel is frantic about the shame, and admits that he married an idealised figure, not a real woman with a history. Not only this, but as the story makes clear, Tess fell for Angel at first sight, some years before, whereas he had to rack his brains to remember the encounter. although remember, he does.

Oddly, he shows a very conventional, priggish and ungenerous character at times, no doubt still captive to his religious upbringing on many levels. In contrast, the lewd and worldly Alec shows a deep and unsolicited concern for Tess and her hapless family. It'd take a heart of stone, though, to not 'fall' for Tess but the time the novel concludes, and for Liza-Lou and little Abraham. Hardy does complexity and nuance so well. As expected, the landscape forms more than just a backdrop to human action. It's interesting that the D'urberville lands, when the family was intact, abutted onto the monotonous and gloomy heath that is the real main characacter of 'The Return of the Native'. by the same author. The Abyss resides in Dorset!

Simon Vance's narration is excellent, as good as Peter Firth's. I'd hate to have to chose between the two. I read this version via the Plus Catalogue, but I shall be buying it with my next credit. After reading, I looked up the narrator, and happily he looks almost exactly as I'd pictured him. This book is a wonderful experience, and I recommend it highly.

Thomas Hardy's masterpiece ...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I am now in my seventies and did not read fiction growing up as I am dyslexic. I read for knowledge and my education only.
I am like a child now, loving literature since discovering audio books and would highly recommend Thomas Hardy to any age group.
For myself, who loves the English language, I find Hardy’s stories bring to life so many words that are fading from popular use. I am both enthralled and enlightened and in search of my next book.

Throughly enjoyed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews