Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by
Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a
censored and
serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper
The Graphic in 1891 and in book form in 1892. Though now considered a major nineteenth-century English novel and possibly Hardy's masterpiece,
Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the
sexual morals of late
Victorian England.