The d’Urberville Inheritance

When Tess makes the last appeal that Angel should marry her sister Liza-Lu, she could not have realised what an improvident request she was making. Although she had their best interests at heart, for she loved them both dearly, could it, in all honesty, be called a lucid, reasonable request? How could the soon to be widowed husband refuse the woman he loved her last wish? But, in spite of the illegality of the union and a protestation based on those grounds, he finally agreed. After a decent period of mourning, the young and naive Liza-Lu becomes Mrs Eliza Louisa Clare. The marriage begins with an idyllic honeymoon and soon Eliza is with the child but contrariety between the couple soon starts to emerge. She, lacking education, wishes to improve herself in order to become his social equal; he, in spite of ambitious plans for their future, wants Liza-Lu to remain an innocent peasant girl to help and support him on the farm. In the ensuing months, Liza-Lu appears to be following in her sisters faltering, sorrowful footsteps. Will her life follow a similar pattern or does she have the necessary sense and sensibility to learn from her sister’s mistakes?