Esther Waters

An inspiring and relatable heroine, Esther is a young, pious servant girl who endures the terrible fate of becoming pregnant and leaving her workplace to face a desperate future... but she is tenacious and fiery, and dedicated to keeping her son and building her life against unfathomably poor odds. Society's ills are laid bare, especially the addictive buzz, desperate drive and inevitable destruction of gambling on horses. George Moore—who features by name in Joyce's Ulysses, was painted by Manet, and strongly influenced by Émile Zola—is often considered the first great modern Irish novelist, and Esther Waters (1894) his finest work.