In The French Lieutenant's Woman, Charles Smithson, a gentleman, falls in love with Sarah Woodruffe, a poor and disgraced governess, despite the fact that he is engaged. The novel explores Charles' conflicting feelings as he deals with his emotions and the societal expectations of the world around him. The narrator of this post-modern text often intervenes in the story, turning what might be a typical Victorian-style novel into an exploration of structure and intertextuality.
Boasting the largest collection of book summaries, BookRags is the best option for titles you can't find elsewhere. They offer all of the basics (quotes, chapter summary, characters, historical context, literary criticism) but also walk through a few major topics that recur throughout the book, which can be particularly useful for essay writing.
The original provider of professionally-written study guides, Cliffs Notes were available in print form before the Internet even existed. Their content is very comprehensive and includes an analysis of characters, detailed chapter by chapter summaries, critical essays, essay topics, and many other sections.
Their book summaries aren't as good as other providers, but PinkMonkey often has interesting insights that aren't mentioned elsewhere on the Internet. For example, they go over literary elements (like setting, conflict, and mood), compare and contrast, and symbolism/motifs. It's a good site if you want to find a unique fact or angle that other students don't know about.