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Chapter 6 - In which plans are discussed regarding Tess's invitation to take up a position with the Stoke-D'Urbervilles as a manager of their poultry farm.  Mrs Durbeyfield is keen to see her daughter take up the offer, Tess not so much.

Chapter 5 - In which Tess agrees to go along with her mother's project given the guilt she feels over the dead horse.  This leads to a somewhat reluctant journey and experience in unfamiliar surroundings.

Chapter 4 - The locals hear about the Durbeyfield's new found ancestry over a pleasant drink in the upper room of the local off-license.  It falls to Tess to take the beehives to market

Chapter 3 - Tess chooses to leave her revelry in the fields to return to her home in the village where we meet some members of her family.

Chapter 2 - After setting the countryside scene of our story, we are introduced to our main protagonist and her companions in their traditional walking club and some new characters make their entrance.

Thomas Hardy added a number of prefaces to his novel over the period from first publication until his final comments in 1912.  These are followed by the first chapter in this classic novel

Thanks for being patient while my wife and I took a well needed trip to Europe, where we were able to see family and friends we hadn't seen for 2 years.  Inspired by some days in a beautiful part of England that features in my next reading and one teenage vacation when I read this author's complete works of fiction, I have decided to give you Thomas Hardy's novel 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have and I look forward to starting with Chapter 1 in the next few days.

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This is just a short update from me in advance of a somewhat longer break than normal before Season 3 as we are finally able to travel to see family and friends back in the UK and Europe.  Thanks so much for making this project worthwhile and for listening.  As of today we are just short of 13,000 unique plays on all the podcast platforms and I apparently have an audience of over 100 listeners which is seen as a success in podcast terms.  See you on the other side for the next book.

The Greatness of Dickens.  A bonus episode and epilogue to the narration of David Copperfield examining the excellence of Charles Dickens as a writer and his impact on social conditions during his lifetime.  Enjoy.

Chapter 64 - A Last Retrospect.  In which David reflects on his life and the many personalities and events that have transpired since he began his journey from the inauspicious beginnings of his birth and the trials and triumphs that he encountered along the way.