Jude the obscure - Thomas Hardy

Edited by Norman Page. An authoritative text backgrounds and sources criticism.
First edition, Norton.

Jude The Obscure, an almost unbearably sad story about love and sexual desire mapped into the peculiar English matrixes of class and destiny in the Victorian 19th century, has come to be recognized as one of Hardy's most important novels. It tells the tragic story of Jude Fawley, a kid from the country whose aspirations to university scholarship are thwarted; his socially unacceptable love affair is also a disaster.
Jude The Obscure is a great novel written by Thomas Hardy. Jude Fawley is an orphan boy, fostered by his Aunt. Disqualified from university because he belongs to a poor family, he tries to survive but fails in both love and education. Jude is confused between sensual love, which is represented by Arabella, and spiritual love, represented by Sue Bridehead.