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Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
Genre: Classic Literature / Victorian Novel / Tragedy / Social Criticism

Book Review:
Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure (1895) is one of the most devastating novels in English literature. Jude Fawley, a poor stonemason with a brilliant mind, dreams of studying at the university in Christminster (Oxford). But poverty and social class crush his ambition. He is trapped in a miserable marriage with the sensual Arabella, then falls deeply in love with his free-spirited cousin Sue Bridehead. Their unconventional relationship — living together without marriage — shocks Victorian society and leads to utter ruin. Hardy’s attack on marriage, religion, and the class system was so fierce that the novel was condemned as obscene. Today, it stands as a masterpiece of tragic realism. This Everyman edition includes an introduction, notes, and a chronology.