Tess of the D'Urbervilles

I struggled with the beginning of this book especially with how forceful and persistant Alec is with Tess. His repetitive gaslighting of her was hard to read at times.

I loved the middle of this book. Where she overcomes - to a point - what has happened to her and tries to move on and live her life. Her romance with Angel - while again seemingly forced on behalf of Angel - was lovelier to read than Alec???s determined ownership of Tess.

The ending? I was not expecting that at all. Although - in hindsight - it was almost inevitable. With the mental abuse Alec puts her through Tess was bound to snap eventually. The ending moved me to tears and the final paragraph will stay with me for a long time.