Tess of the D'Urbevilles
The plot in 65 words
Tess is a poor farm girl raped by her rich cousin. Her baby dies.
She meets Angel, the son of a clergyman. They marry. When he finds
out about Tess' past, he tells her to leave. She works on the land
until her rich cousin offers to keep her as his mistress. Angel
reappears to beg her forgiveness. Tess murders her cousin, and is executed.
The first paragraph
On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking homeward
from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore or
Blackmoor. The pair of legs that carried him were rickety, and there was a bias
in his gait which inclined him somewhat to the left of a straight line. He
occasionally gave a smart nod, as if in confirmation of some opinion, though
he was not thinking of anything in particular. An empty egg-basket was slung
upon his arm, the nap of his hat was ruffled, a patch being quite worn away
at its brim where his thumb came in taking it off. Presently he was met by an
elderly parson astride on a gray mare, who, as he rode, hummed a wandering tune.
'Good night t'ee,' said the man with the basket.
'Good night, Sir John,' said the parson.