Ann Marie shares her post about tess

tess : "i am ready"

every time someone saw me with "tess" in my hands,
and my eyes deliberately soaking in every word, they gave
me some kind of warning, "be ready to read something happy afterwards"
or "oh, poor tess!...have you read such-and-such yet?...it's terrible."
i guess these warnings might have turned me away, but i rather
like a story of heartache and suffering...because it is so much part of us.

before la porte rouge offered this book as our first read
tess had sat patiently on my shelf, and i was completely ignorant of her...
each page was a surprise, a true unfolding of a life before my eyes.

i fell in love. how can you not when you read of her perfect lips
and love of melody? how can you not love a woman who indeed
was full of virtue? what strength and forbearance she possessed.

i loved dreaming about her hard labor on the farm as she fell
deeply, madly in love with a gentleman. i too cried when
angel left her and she protected his good name.
i cherished every moment she had of her last days
with him as they fled and hid in forests and a mansion.

i knew that as soon as she offered her body upon
that ancient altar she was done for. i wept.
tess, least despised of them all. most loved forever more.

often as i read i had my warm spiced milk,
thinking of tess and all the many women in this world
who suffer such a life this very day...the victims of
social injustices. it's international women's day...
and i will celebrate tess and those who struggle
to keep their heads high as they have been cast so low.

and now, onward. onward to jane.


Thank you Ann Marie so much for sharing your lovely post with us, i fell in love with tess  and found myself hanging on every detail of her time working  on the different farms and fields- i found freedom in it and a simplicity i crave.