Setting

The novel is set in impoverished rural Wessex during the Long Depression.

Characters

Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated rural peasants.

Plot Point

One day, Parson Tringham informs John that he has noble blood.

Additional Information

Tringham, an amateur genealogist, has discovered that "Durbeyfield" is a corruption of "D''Urberville", the surname of a noble Norman family.