A heartaching portrayal of a woman faced by an impossible choice in the pursuit of happiness, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles is edited with notes by Tim Dolin and an introduction by Margaret R. Higonnet in Penguin Classics. When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall