Thomas Hardy was part of the English naturalist movement. He wrote short stories, novels, and poetry. From the back cover of an earlier edition, "Tess Durbeyfield is the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descended from the ancient family of d'Urberville. In her search for respectability her fortunes fluctuate wildly, and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy. It explores Tess's relationship with two very different men, her struggles against the social "mores" of the rural Victorian world which she inhabits and the hypocrisy of the age. In addressing the double standards of the time, the author's evocation of a world which we have lost provides one of the most compelling stories in the canon of English literature, whose appeal today defies the judgment of his contemporary critics."