Esther Waters (1894) is a novel by George Moore. Considered his best
novel, it was an immediate critical and commercial success, and has
since been adapted several times for theater, film, and television. Like
much of Moore's work, Esther Waters shows the influence of French
naturalist writer Émile Zola, who sought to portray the influence of
heredity and social environment on the lives of characters without
shying away from poverty, sex, disease, and suffering. Following her
father's death and her mother's marriage to an abusive Londoner, Esther
Waters arrives at the home of the Barfield family in Shoreham to work as
a kitchen maid. There, she tries to work hard to support herself, but is
soon seduced by a footman named William Latch. When he elopes with his
employer's niece, Esther is left to hide her pregnancy for as long as
possible. Discovered, she is dismissed, and soon thereafter gives birth
to a healthy boy. Unmarried and poor, she makes the decision to raise
Jackie as a single mother while seeking employment in London. Tragic and
truthful, Esther Waters is the story of a woman who defies Victorian
convention and suffers for nothing more than being born into poverty.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of George Moore's Esther Waters is a classic of Irish
literature reimagined for modern readers.
