Gunty who wrote "The Rabbit Hutch," winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction (4)

I believe the answer is:

tess

(Other definitions for tess that I've seen before include "Lady" , "Hardy's Durbeyfield heroine" , "tragic heroine" , "Hardy's pure woman" , "Thomas Hardy heroine" .)

I've seen this clue in The New York Times.

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