Jude the Obscure

Set in southern England, the story follows Jude Fawley, a stonemason with aspirations of becoming a scholar. His dreams are complicated by his cousin and love interest, Sue Bridehead, alongside his tumultuous relationship with Arabella Donn, who deceives him into marriage. The narrative explores themes of class struggle, the pursuit of education, and the constraints of societal expectations regarding marriage and religion, all set against the backdrop of Hardy's fictional Wessex.