Jude the Obscure opens Goodreads in a new tab

Powerful and controversial from its publication, Hardy's last novel was condemned by Victorian critics as decadent and indecent. It depicts a changing world where a poor stonemason can aspire to a university education. Jude Hawley abandons his hopes, becomes trapped in an unwise marriage, and pursues a doomed relationship with his free-spirited cousin Sue Bridehead. Modern critics hail the novel as a pioneering work of feminism and socialist thought.