Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Ebook435 pages6 hours

    The Mayor of Casterbridge

    By Thomas Hardy

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Late one night at a local fair, Michael Henchard, blinded by alcohol and foolish bravado, trades away his wife and daughter to a visiting sailor. Nineteen years later the two women return to Casterbridge and the now-sober Michael, who has gained power and influence in his role as the mayor, must confront his past. As his life begins to collapse, Henchard realizes that it is his treatment of others has been his greatest downfall. Burdened by guilt and stripped of his status and money, Henchard succumbs once again to drink.

    The Mayor of Casterbridge, like Jude the Obscure and Far From the Maddening Crowd, is set in Hardy’s fictional county of Wessex. It is regarded as Hardy’s greatest “Novel of Character and Environment.” As in his other novels, Hardy’s characters struggle to console their passions with their social circumstances. A version of The Mayor of Casterbridge called The Claim, starring Sarah Polley, Wes Bentley and Milla Jovovich, was filmed in 2000 with the setting changed to the prospecting northwest of the nineteenth century.

    HarperPerennialClassics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 14, 2015
    ISBN9781443446891
    Author

    Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in Dorchester, Dorset. He enrolled as a student in King’s College, London, but never felt at ease there, seeing himself as socially inferior. This preoccupation with society, particularly the declining rural society, featured heavily in Hardy’s novels, with many of his stories set in the fictional county of Wessex. Since his death in 1928, Hardy has been recognised as a significant poet, influencing The Movement poets in the 1950s and 1960s.

    Read more from Thomas Hardy

    Related to The Mayor of Casterbridge

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Commonplace Book

      Jun 4, 2018

      I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. —Fred Allen I have always wondered, in reading travels, at the childish joy travellers felt at meeting people they knew, and their sense of loneliness when they did not, in

      4 min read

    • Article

      They Were One-offs

      Apr 6, 2022

      HOW I wish I’d written this book! Matthew Kelly celebrates four women whose work created the organisations and attitudes to conservation we take for granted today. Two are well known, two are not; all their stories enrich us. The well-known two are O

      7 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Book

      Dec 1, 2021

      The light from the full moon lent a silky, glacial sheen to the towering front of the cloud, which stretched off to the horizon in both directions. I stood transfixed as it made its way down the street toward me at a little over the town’s speed limi

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Special Relationship

      Mar 20, 2024

      A Special Relationship
      5 min read

    • Article

      Apparition

      Mar 26, 2020

      Apparition
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Kingdom To Come

      Sep 23, 2022

      The Kingdom To Come
      5 min read

    • Article

      Last Portion Of Chips

      Sep 21, 2022

      Last Portion Of Chips
      4 min read

    • Article

      New Zealand Books

      Jul 14, 2019

      It’s astonishing to realise on finishing this book that Marilyn Waring had been in Parliament for nine years when she retired at the age of 32. And that she developed and maintained a powerful influence on national politics in that time – and afterwa

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Warning To The Fortean

      Jul 14, 2022

      A Warning To The Fortean
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Love Letter To Norfolk

      Apr 27, 2022

      A Love Letter To Norfolk
      5 min read

    • Article

      Three Novelists Pushing The Bloat Out

      Feb 29, 2024

      THE ART OF OMISSION SEEMS TO BE UNfashionable in fiction these days. Word-bloat and page-plumping are the literary crises of our age. It’s not hard to see where this might come from. First, there is the same misguided view of value for money that lea

      6 min read

    • Article

      Finding Facts In Fiction

      Mar 12, 2021

      Finding Facts In Fiction
      10 min read

    • Article

      Going Dutch

      Dec 8, 2021

      THIS work covers a period neatly book-ended by two sea journeys: those of Matilda, William the Conqueror’s Flemish-speaking wife, and the Dutch William of Orange in 1688. Between the two dates, the fortunes of Anglo-Dutch literary relations, like tho

      5 min read

    • Article

      Giving Lincolnshire Its Due

      Jun 29, 2022

      MAY we play a word-association game? I say ‘Lincolnshire’ and you reply... Yes, you might struggle to find anything to say about the ancient shire of that name. Perhaps ‘cathedral’ and ‘cabbages’ will float up through the mist of memory. I doubt many

      5 min read

    • Article

      Postcards from Fairyland

      Jun 15, 2023

      Postcards from Fairyland
      10 min read

    • Article

      Memoirs Of A Fox

      Jan 1, 2019

      My year of graduate work in Cambridge, England was a somewhat bleak and desperate affair, coinciding with a bout of depression that could perhaps have been shortened or ameliorated if I had been assigned hard agricultural labor, a daily column of loc

      14 min read

    • Article

      Everything Worthwhile Is Very Far Away: An Excerpt from the New Introduction to ‘Poor White’

      Jun 28, 2018

      1. In 1919, after his first marriage had ended, his family had dissolved, and his career as a mail-order businessman had been tossed aside for artistic dreams, 42-year-old Sherwood Anderson published Winesburg, Ohio, his fourth book of an eventual 27

      9 min read

    • Article

      One of Us

      Sep 1, 2020

      One of Us
      8 min read

    • Article

      Books Books

      Jul 19, 2021

      by Bryan Walpert Otago University Press — $27.50 We start with some ambiguity thanks to the title’s syntax: does the person speaking have a brass band to follow? Or are they letting us know that just behind them there is a brass band bringing up the

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Mayor of Casterbridge

    3.5/5

    6,194 ratings187 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book is so very well written that many aspects of it seem to me to verge on perfection. It springs to mind a hundred times in discussing writing craft, in discussing what a story should do, how framing can work, or indeed, when contemplating John Gardner's theory that novellas at their best have a "glassy perfection". This book manages to be an experience as well as a literary work, and the effect of its final pages is profound, worthwhile, and haunting.
    • 4/5
      One of the finest novels of the twentieth century, "Heart of Darkness" is a moody masterpiece following a man's journey down the Congo in search of a Captain Kurtz. I saw the loose film adaptation "Apocalypse Now" before reading "Heart of Darkness" and feared seeing "Apocalypse Now" would detrimentally affect my reading experience. I need not have worried as the two are different enough to ensure the Congo's Kurtz was still full of surprises.
    • 5/5
      Strange and excellent. Conrad's use of the language is masterful. Full of incredible symbolism, and a very powerful anti-colonial screed.
    • 2/5
      This was pretty boring. The reader was fantastic but I just never could get into the story. Not my cup of tea.
    • 4/5
      The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much - Heart of Darkness

      This is a book that is difficult to rate. On the one hand, it is very hard to read. The perspective of the book is a person listening to another person telling the story, which means that almost all paragraphs are in quotes, which can and will get confusing if the narrator starts quoting people, and gets worse once he starts quoting people who are quoting people themselves. Add to that the slightly chaotic narration, the long sentences and paragraphs, and an almost complete lack of chapters (the book is structured into only 3 chapters), and then add some jumps in causality in the narration for good measure, and you have a recipe for headaches.

      On the other hand, the book has a good story. It has no clear antagonist, all characters except for the narrator are in one way or another unlikeable idiots, brutal savages (and I am talking about the white people, not the natives). It is hard to like any of them, and, strangely, the character who is probably the worst of the lot was the one I liked best, just because he was honest about his actions and did not try to hide behind concepts like "bringing the civilization to these people". He was brutal, yes. He was (probably) racist, yes. But they all are. He seems to show an awareness of his actions, of the wrongness of it, in the end, while all the others remain focussed on their personal political and material gain.

      I am not a big fan of books that are considered "classics". They usually do not interest me, and being forced to read them by your teachers will probably not improve your view of the books. I am not sure if I liked this book, and that in itself is an achievement on the part of this book: I am unable to give it a personal rating compared to my other books, because it is so different.

      There are many people who have liked the book. There are many who have hated it. I cannot recommend it, because I know that many people will not like it. Some would say that these people "don't get it", but that would be wrong as well. You need a special interest in the topics of the book, or a special connection to the book itself, to properly enjoy it. But I also would not discourage anyone to read it either.

      It is part of the public domain, so it is free. If you are interested, start reading it. You can still shout "this is bullsh*t" and drop it at any point.
    • 3/5
      I was expecting a little more out of this. Overall, I felt it was a little lackluster. I needed more meat to the story, it lacked...... something that I can't quite verbalize. Heart of Darkness describes one captain's journey up the Congo River into the "heart of Africa." It's dark, brooding, and ominous; nothing goes according to plan. The narrator upon arriving at his African destination; has a strange fascination with a man named Kurtz, an English brute with odd ways who is no longer in control of all his faculties. Marlow, the captain, is in awe at the darkness that lurks in the jungle and in men's hearts. Sigh. I'm not doing a very good job describing it because I couldn't really get into it.
    • 5/5
      This book has been recommended to me by a friend and was sitting on my to read list for years. When I saw that most of its reviews are either 5 star or 1 star I was intrigued. The book did not disappoint. Beautiful, evocative, mesmerizing, horrifying, revolting, it describes an abyss of a human soul. A story within a story, narrator's description sets the stage and his story takes you away into then disappearing and now non-existent primal world thus forcing you to see the events through his lenses.
    • 2/5
      I finished Joseph Conrad’s novella, “Heart of Darkness” this morning. I’m really a bit Ho-hum about it, can’t really recommend it.
    • 5/5
      I read this thirty-five years and didn’t get much out of it. After hearing Branagh’s reading, I think what I missed was not the obvious message, but the art. There is nothing like a great actor giving a great reading to bring a great work of literature to life.
    • 3/5
      There's nothing wrong with a bit of baggy. And certainly there's little or nothing 19th century without that touch of cellulite. And that's mostly where all the masterpieces live. No waste. But no bounty either. Conrad's prose is too parsimonious for anything to get very close to masterpiece status. I like him fine but he was a writer who tied his boots too tight almost on purpose. He wrote better about the sea than anything else and yet did relatively little of it. You're right (in a tiny, limited sense) in that the strangely neglected “The Secret Agent” is probably his best - full of surprises and real pleasures - does “Greenwich” like no one ever did. But to call it a masterpiece is to seriously abuse the term. Hush my moderation, it is to take the term out the back with a baseball bat and go all Joe Pesci on its ass. His prose is the diametric opposite of gorgeous (saying so makes me sound like a Banville-admirer). His prose was bullied at school and has been keen to avoid trouble ever since. I can understand that but it don't bring me no grandeur nor frisson.I'm a big fan of “Notre Dame de Paris” (I've read it English, Portuguese and German). But obviously I’m singing its praises to avoid the lurking presence of “Les Mis”. Because it gloriously proves my point about baggy masterpieces. “Les Mis” was pissed on at the time for its vulgarity and indiscipline. This is the stuff that makes a masterpiece. “Notre Dame de Paris” is a pretty little thing, but it's a run-up, a stretching exercise before the real thing. Hugo was a looper (try “Les Travailleurs de la Mer”). He spent the spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime Commune moment eating zoo animals and banging fans. This makes him lots and lots of things. Unbaggy is not amongst them. “Les Mis” changed everything. “Notre Dame de Paris” was a cartoon waiting to happen.I'm not a fan of everything books-wise. And I also don't want to scatter the masterpiece medals too liberally. Though I admire some people’s generosity and enthusiasm. I'm just worried it's going to end up with J.K. Rowling as Nobel Laureate (she wouldn't be the worst). The sentiment is almost the opposite of masterpiece though. But then I'm a big fan of cowardice, so I'm bound to say that. The thing about Conrad? No funnies. Not once. Not ever. Even by accident. That's the Beckett kiss of death. I rest my case. Cry at your leisure. Don't forget, I'm a Conrad fan.And I wouldn't dream of hurting someone, but look me right in the eye and tell me “Les Mis” is not baggy. Remember the chapter about the joys of human shit? Not even the tiniest bit discursive, that one? Really?
    • 2/5
      One word to describe this book - woof. It isn't a story as much as an author's attempt to use metaphors and colorful language to make a point in 100 pages that could have been made in half of that. The basics of the book is that a man is telling his story of a trip to Africa for a company and he meets a white man who is kind of worshiped by the ignorant black people.

      This is not a page turner, but I am glad I read it because it is a classic due to the time period in which it was written. Will I read it again? Probably not. But as a person who studies and teaches history, it was important to get through at least once. As literature, I was not fan.
    • 4/5
      I finally read it! Beautiful, heavy tale of obsession.
    • 4/5
      Inspired by the Great American Read list, I thought I would give this novella a try. I'd not read it in any of my English classes. I found the book interesting but disturbing in places. I had to consider the time in which it was written. There isn't a lot of political correctness in here. Marlow, the narrator, is given the job of piloting a boat up the Congo. He reflects on what he sees, his frustrations with the journey, and the man he finally meets in the end.
    • 3/5
      Damn good catalyst.
    • 5/5
      My favorite book!
    • 3/5
      Uiteraard een klassieker, maar desondanks zeer intrigerend. Sterk accent op stemming en sfeerschepping: duister, mysterieus.Maar stilistisch meestal grote omhaal van woorden en daardoor niet helemaal geslaagd.Te lezen als ultieme explorie van het innerlijk van de mens in extreme omstandigheden
    • 3/5
      The longest 100 pages I have ever read. After several abandonments over the years I managed to discipline myself to stick with it. Allegorical and dense prose, dealing with imperialism, exploitation, racism and moral corruption. However, not much actually happens to a handful of characters none of whom I could readily empathise or care for. It was a struggle. That said, having finished it several days ago the story and fundamental imagery has stuck with me. Initially gave this 2 stars but upped it to 3 as there is something about this book that is quite haunting and it probably deserves another read and a better understanding.
    • 4/5
      This is short novel (~100 pages), following an adventure up the Congo to the deepest darkest part of Africa. It is set in the 19th Century when the continent was relatively unknown to European explorers. The main character Marlow is from London, and he narrates his adventure, starting from the time when he decides he wants to explore the continent (being interested in maps from a young age), through his finding a job as a steamboat pilot, and the ensuing voyage. The company employing him has set up stations along the river, with the object of trading and obtaining ivory from the natives. The adventure reaches its finale after he finds the final station and realises what has been going on there.Though this obviously deals with colonialism and imperialism, what is perhaps a more dominant theme is the banality of evil, and the psychology of being in an extreme and often alien environment. Conrad, despite English not being his native language, writes in a finer literary style than many of his contemporary English language novelists of adventure. Indeed, his use of English here being subtly non-native provides some quite expressive and poetic turns of phrase, which in a sense heighten the exotic atmosphere and the sense of strangeness. This is very easy reading, and highly recommendable due to both its depth and its compactness.
    • 4/5
      This is the second time I've started this book. I tried to read it in my late teens but could not deal with the brutality toward the Africans by the Europeans. I'm not sure that the "darkness" Conrad refers to is the same "darkness" I see in the book. For me this is about the attitude and actions of the colonists / company men toward the native tribes' people. But I get the feeling that Conrad's contemporary readers (at time of publication) would have been more horrified at the way Kurtz "went native" so to speak.
      One paragraph did really stand out for me and in it Conrad says (paraphrase)who would we be if we didn't have the judgement of our neighbours / friends / family / society around us; if we were completely free of all expectations and only had our own morality to guide us? How many people obey the rules for fear of what society would do to them if who they really are were to show?
      The darkness that will stay in my head is the wholesale destruction of a native society for greed and profit - a destruction that continues today in that area of the world.
    • 4/5
      Conrad's Heart of Darkness explores the dark heart that lies within each of us and the extraordinary lengths of depravity we are willing to go to. This is mirrored in the "dark continent" of Africa in which Marlowe, our narrator for most of the story, travels as well as in the darkness within Kurtz and, to an extent, all of us. The story also left me pondering the darkness that lies within each of us and whether showing that was the purpose of opening and closing the story in London with Marlowe telling shipmates about his trip to Africa. Are any of us really better than Kurtz?
    • 3/5
      Like most people, I was familiar with Heart of Darkness, both as an acclaimed work of literature and as the inspiration for the remarkable movie Apocolypse Now. For some reason, I recently decided to make an attempt at reading it, despite my concern that it was written at a level beyond my capacity to understand. Upon receipt of the volume from Amazon, I was initially under the impression that I had mistakenly ordered the Cliff's Notes version of the work. I had no idea that the book was essentially a short story, easily readable in 2-3 hours. Even more surprising, was the ease with which I was able to follow and understand the story, though admittedly written in a slightly dense prose. Perhaps this was due to having seen Apocolypse Now and being familiar with the broad outline of the story and having read other works of history on the Belgian Congo. In any event, it was a decent story, filled with some beautifully descriptive language and imagery. I must say, however, that I was not bowled over. Steamship Captain pilots a ragged boat up the Congo, accompanied by colonial agents and support staff (cannibals and other natives) in an attempt to relieve a long stranded station agent (Kurtz) who has "gone native" and become the insane source of worship for the local natives. If you've seen Apocolypse Now, you know the story, just replace the Mekong with the Congo. I go back to my first paragraph in which I related a concern over my ability to understand what is considered a classic work of literature. I fully understood it, but was perhaps not qualified to fully appreciate it.
    • 5/5
      Darkness in the dark reaches of Africa looking into the dark souls of man seeking the unknown, but finding darkness amongst the darkness.
    • 4/5
      Having just read a history of the belgian Congo I think I appreciated this book far more than I would have if I didn't know the full history of the subject dealt with in the book. As I could identify characters and situations within the book I was able to relate to it more.
    • 5/5
      The version of the book shown here is not the one I read, but my copy, with no notes, footnotes, or any other editing is so old that it does not show up on the GR profile. That being said, here is my review.
      This is a great book. I have read and re-read three other Hardy classics, Tess, Madding Crowd, and Jude, but had not touched him for many years. (The copy of the book I read is copyright 1969 and cost $0.50!)
      I regret not reading this earlier, but am very happy I was egged on to do it by a “Book Buddy” and have read it now.
      The story of a man who “sells” his wife while in a drunken stupor moves through plot twists and turns worthy of anything I have ever read. The plot of this book is well and more fully described elsewhere, so I will not do it here, but I will go on to say a few other things about the book.
      The selling of his wife becomes a huge shame and a deep secret of Michael Henchard, the man who later becomes a wealthy merchant and mayor of Casterbridge. Henchard’s is not the only secret, however, and others who have them find them to be prisons of their own making. Henchard as well as another major character named Lucetta fear the consequences of their secrets and lies so much that they allow them to rule their lives. In the end, the secrets, of course, are revealed, but the feared consequences have already taken place before that time.
      Aside from Hardy’s brilliant handling of this theme of the impact guilt and shame on people’s lives, both the “guilty party” and those around them, he also deals with the very human foible of misinterpreting events and the motives of others. Those misinterpretations lead to huge difficulties throughout the novel, just as they do in real life. Each and every one of us has had the experience of interpreting something a person has said or done in ways the other person could not possibly have intended. The fact that this is so universal is why classic literature transcend time: they present universal unchanging truths.
      Reading 19th century novels is often difficult. The authors rely upon vocabularies much richer than those used today and their writing styles are very formal, often difficult to read, usually seeming overly wordy, but the stories they write and the insights into human behavior they offer are worth the difficulty of wrestling through their style and diction.
      As I read 19th century writers, I am always stuck by their deep understanding of human psychology, of social psychology and of human motivations and fears. It is probably so surprise that Sigmund Freud was a product of the 19th century, but for alll of his notoriety, his understanding of human psychology is no match for those of the novelists of his day.
      I have often felt that the reading curriculum of university English Majors ought to also be the curricula of Psychology Majors.
    • 4/5
      In an effort to class up the joint, I listened to this audio book performed by Kenneth Branagh.

      I say performed, because it wasn't just a plain reading of the story. He added depth to the observations and took what I might have found to be a boring story and breathed life into it.

      I enjoyed this quite a bit and would recommend this audio version to anyone interested in this classic tale.
    • 5/5
      How could you not get involved with a novel that begins with a man in a drunken stupor selling his wife at a fair?
    • 4/5
      A classic tragedy in the truest sense of the word. Michael Henchard as the protagonist dominates this novel and his tragic flaw dominates and defines his character, dooming him to a difficult life. Hardy is able to delineate a searing psychological portrayal of Henchard as Mayor, father and friend who fails in each of these roles due to his inability both to control his emotions and to communicate with those he (sometimes) loves. As always with Hardy, the novel beautifully portrays the Wessex society; particularly the architecture and surroundings of the town of Casterbridge. In this novel Hardy reaches the beginnings of his maturity as a novelist.
    • 4/5
      One of Hardy's more famous books, detailing the rise and fall of one Michael Henchard, and various persons related to him. The story starts in the 1800s with Michael and his young wife and child entering the fair at Wheldon-Priors just outside Castorbridge (real life Dorchester). Michael is a journeyman hay trusser looking for work. He is quick tempered, bold, loud voiced and of rash but sudden judgement who bears a grudge long - an unsubtle man. The book is subtitled "The story of a man of Character".The story then jumps 19 yrs until Michael is inexplicably Mayor of Castorbridge. No reasons are given for how this came to be. However it is clear that his rash judgement has recently involved him in a purchase of bad wheat, causing much resentment. A passing Scotsman, one Donald Farfrae has another inexplicable cure for this, and Michael persuedes him to stay on as his business manager. Donald is everything that Michael is not, cool headed, quietly spoken, prepared to take advice and consider positions carefully. Although the story focuses on Michael it is no surprise that in all respects Donald, without meaning to, surpasses him in every way - each time it is carefully pointed out the faults of Michael's character that allow this to happen. The ending is not entirely unexpected, but tragically sad nethertheless. Michael's 'Will' being one of the more often quoted pieces of Hardy's work. The other chief character is that of the young daughter from the opening chapter Elizabeth Jane. Timid and meek, as is perhaps true of most well bred girls at that time, she plays little part other than to be a source of affection for the various men thourghout the book. The story is told in a dense prose that is however clearly intelligible. My edition had some 300 odd notes on the meanings of more obscure words that Hardy picks - many of which have fallen out of use as agricultural practise has changed. The meaning of many is obvious from context but the notes are sometimes helpful. Well written, if a little slow at times. Hardy took some liberties with the geography but is more or less based on the actual countryside and similar events of 18c England.
    • 4/5
      Ah! This was my first Hardy book to read and I didn't know it was going to be like this. The plot is interesting, but as much as the characters change...I don't know, they still seem underdeveloped. I did love the theme of redemption that permeated throughout the story. Can a man really overcome his past? What if no one will let him forget? Moreso, what if his human failings will never let him transcend himself? It is a good book, but don't expect to smile at the end. The characters do so many messed up things that it sort of reminds you of the world we live in.
    • 4/5
      In a prologue like first chapter, a drunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to the highest bidder, and the woman and girl go off with a traveling sailor. The rest of the book takes place many years later. Henchard has managed to rise to be a wealthy and prominent citizen of Casterbridge, and is the Mayor. Then his long gone wife and daughter return unexpectedly. Also involved are a briliant and charming young Scotsman and a woman from a nearby town that Henchard took advantage of for his pleasure. The story is sad on many levels, with all characters getting their turn to share in the misery.

    Book preview

    The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy

    )Öbbook_preview_excerpt.htmlu}ےƕ@oD8'fhɖ',n[$$  ~odZ{g,wU@"s_^/|iN|S6ߍ|]3X@:<6UÜyIe0Ayߝv7w ]GyÂmѼlN_.qnM7ce93>cEa.S1Nw._Z]:XsssOT%r3`[q}<ǔ>.8g~rr8A) '>rsp㄃Ղ#fws6+ ;Գ5db5ס.d\e?篓t:>%0.<<+$.y\162ƞ#U+0Tf9<4B[6rҦg5֝9?C Z>@=V3~/ziGMڏF_X'U aC/K/ { {0>6?@CFZYCDg]`;XXbݝ AiL[}"{bF'q"08ZmFG-7)ђ__:8>As0.@0%-SvaOC:]yYkq :@P`"xхUeC;^5fYe⟋Ot1t㩹$ʄT~xݝC @aiICfXӹÇl0u3gsDfa 2@s 8$@XWdIhV_*=@Z>S7$*B:fNoC+ܼe0.lCprh!t~:~(3kl`fiِaS,m-@lKg]?il|~iϱhHLM!~:|z|ϟ/i ?rook,b4H/JPJX<'h́|Z^# 447xZw@C{S Dbqi> u:'?4S'B&w8o8b g7.^8-ɰB.O)le'Ρ FJCg nagD V\M$as>ۜ5.nC033p'l2nAQ_N Q77h9c /h[Pi`;74*XZjEzԏY{l5)Jb)i4bip'2[!q$$F90V Z (l]#HĀH>5E^=YO08Yp%?"d  {l7 UkZtw?`9i)n]4K+%D)8c=~W@GaBz&?c'm(;JVZ1/ W uYxum0Mm 7W2ʇoӉ{E}!9N-9g`fh䡈 *dDZk3ص|ǙsˉswQ4UM\qI/0Д ҥpPr8OXHY1-ѡ2Bkh.TJ'x=)Lʮ6dJfkŖBV(yzb4CB:BƸ([jϻy"q҉@葰KodO1AF/,"tX_#vqf+:Qq40pӱ<\ EAEf`Ήspx -gŌsTÇG48[r\#R za3|`C #)Mӓr[H1E<+ hD|ejr&+y)RDZ*A=Ùio 6L*DПrNLSheA "HG"|_.!ڋPcbȜ G㙩j.'nelA*J= v-"8W 2ADaYg3R3[f +DeI v( Y~pIx KH|3%6{_./s0y[fc\;/xD+(*C%d#0lh攦ND=[E,v1뗩_8 !L$nw G^ߘĺe|  |\~'MJ=hi`IPVLsA%QpMNgͤ(VN0`t q<ݨPPF- IW,, :a˝C+j'w dy@Dܥm|T LJ_t7Q EvTݡ+BR nWOӒ9]A eP./1(F6_c]+" ^o@YD;䦞HVpO!rb3e]^]qn~@ Pf 'HJZiZS%8H|JnAP&F@j. m1dɝ4.S7FIgA&]k# $1y{Jo 3Ljvg5т-BљEXS;*SL25&Mtum4=d|&@imdSv>2^ۭi桯 POAO!p#v~y(hFriy3229"KtW̓ޭQGq\ XY)$@<[FzIh`cmc:T0<5{239YT'몫Tn ZM)d1PJ >}!וjr\,>VjT ~l5~]PEd=#Z,Vty)<])᜸"P?/P/>=q Ģ$"?0&,q&#ua, etd$)-UkQ8g*r21J#'1qѓPƕrEmYhdO# Dm0O_ϻZ7dblIk(i)*b`F˪)aͅ2Xoz{9^!t|^V䬁Syj 0TN`EʄR&ͥ\60%e)amd4`LRSz&ϮJV*k^ҚWb 'g@7n:gj :Yz[ymG)])JЏ܍Rgo&g%{}0c */J S b>E\aSt:jOC:<=< Lcyi-:=JS!ԛHB΄r. &]! v gbDa&WύsIЁ8_j/fx~)Va;kY.9JxF¦YLcÔr&{z8/5U(.Ai,f|qVH_T}wiT֢X`]&a3%]ח.JyQ@0o8RW ey||!ӫe~$bgv?ϧ:#͜t[0 ўjfT>D4*V=jߔ¯ߓE;?b+j2XÚ,a%{||zFVkbZA );pV=%UYNҟK0S|A/7,TSOݪM,MNym.RuoԶFAeQ BTΝLj5l)ta$"aqA j0N5鐌,^XbC q(\2b" a8IEr>l(d͊1+*&K۩ %nӠͰG|)~{J -b9ְZ=i;‹#A7^rgv8H/^w 25朶m3ЀWSrrqY|,Tļ_:a*}؉ܩ4Q j܅x`+e C,F/zAd Bk_:][ASfcM~=JαeZZy+V!bI~(PiU<鉟ҎE)73;&"UuCŔUG%֌q^RkaE}94@;ʊY/oGl^IqfNqyg&2&4V1VK$#J+L jלtmiӇaT8/%]6FK-< ʪc}٨:^ BVDķ{ Q;w$=@h׹=YN4R jAC$]mC= n30<պE闋PfK%Dcډy -G̓ *F#"ϷR&W̕tc6[,ZK%/uXNJFh oX͒aс[x(ըdKP;÷{2:K)md[R&) j6 *z޾$읗qWb&0㡳vj" 0}';‡VI{ fjVg6fu ֟ASS\ \'L{m].UѤ4A#`eT߉x1k[$Me&G45gplU ]6^o~!rON;YXpD VQ:yKAxKhd9,5PB1X7z KBtٹPm+dBƚTXorQ׿`e~u|@O.Cu4YtvfϷyVאM18띚*YLܕoW*Sm>4TԞ8~[kՐ'5TIE&F(ySXD@jٙV63EcJ־ʇW[qIq^;;rǬ`Z 2ޖ[Pl vV}!4M+-|TddtjP) "}'7N&K\"󚶬 4)w7+a4i&uE,1VFO [QIfh*S&BG%zI_.bg{}A; i;kE# {o:bx1<+H:OӲe5]vm7a@*"u\AΥ<>>LĎeZt[x: f͒-5"ɸ5R)̏}תj\R80X:(n -MmQm88)C:bAS0BnHu3q*mhvb;Ҧˣ"6MP!dJ^+3 X{XHT&Pj?z˝5BD`ȡրP=" d^ Ւt_s\8/uHUz@'eh6AX;Hի|FBƻ YlB Dd%ZrH*epL *7JS^)rcnndtf^Ezv\c{@*tVve(ib0tTɻ/e(p=qC0Lb&/mkv.#JwBfƼ>nǰMV{KNJ*#OgᓕT.V$ZHKs1+2aIzE_2rѪҤr9?’ tVӍ/<&1,i> zVF<;аlo|"BʙokoTJ|׹F2(Dp !M;f(uѹW1XJ}u擠@ZĔȪ,ԭ3o:(%e+<ϺŇ]q \'M&qǜ"SPkHe+0EX[qdrU6GW(eJ77)ekWŇ'Z[ʂP*':/|r.k$S؂6Z\!!ZS4G#ܼ})Tw]P QnlO}kYsO N]>7I 'f긷զE3TzAڕ>oKCs0EDL8kS]?m ;NLLUY reGw+*eb͟$8bpZ|n3(<$IĬ]F,lˊ _ҒzwVH 5P(ǧv*o|&iȫTT>KxÍ(h<6go^y[ coNgs{` sx.Ͽ\ݏ8J,59Z|ɷkk8?Xp@ZJP68WDjmT5\&'Nܼ|g"PH>S:Z쾺:tJ~$RCpyLw#+";۱jb ma7UX@"i`˅RHʋl3їb8?3*(1w6Q`0(铼mL8bRˬRwq ik:MQ@ oF<^sBVo${kc$H+w#r/[R7rKج Dn U18b8ݕI UfifTt% a_rﷁVhN {x glJ] 6ʹߢԂ(ᴂUWͻ[pٚJCVIy}]TTaf6M%S֠RkNlǨ+fA"r~*o ;s"Gv=7P}(ʹu9[)1۶yL|i>+ß>:lixeA\}KTI[e,iѲm3uj ?hP+nZL܍EI|?O_>i\JZnsf0qLT"Xe ܴN b|:q)BaM\)K( d= -Ρ^{]wc|,N@PKW+VR yeb_SM 6.6zoƨ=6+$;ԅVbȖlns3rZD6GD4 2S|/'Y a| p  GBnznΜ^ɢjUuȽ9q}N=꒰vjuُ@9^ /teM^!dʑݳ+sVc{JQ4fz0-j,G T&z;00<=LJM8(>!a{a%ߙi ȝCRf/H v*dTP-dӬ x`͠ybȴl4*Zrv]xl6RO^Uw ىK>yPgnݭ)qa9 ܑZyf{uz1FGU, Ҷ!@3;nrfݸbEGqe:JEuTmM $hi>qc&2%{6[Vtb`$4\MƮ ePݤ}xZwWzm;jjq>)ۇ[8T-+5X]-g:ϰ:<; +.\f?U1ΒnÕ$ K+i֨S ohé"=J=}K-*j]E. ٹoN EOhʬI2x9k"*[9FWZm' b5t+39lR:&"mGǣTKOوOmY/ G:#e=]WRkv8agmOe#JG _d,2,xhXr)+x<wtȹYm3aޤM*+r&"k~-Zeڑ6CI, u[KN(%n=WJ@Uu:U DJCy]D0nvאJ |Z~}D}}8p{g Pb~3Ud[4児A6 v#* +۵ɄʩURzL"Bo!|aN5#bP.A V1/K^kX Q>o0Ƕ0^OX5WHJ:گx\"Vv` beԛ7&X!qr#cwnbΣ}Ui$~e-x̤*kn_mLИ]ksҋ7_b&5+3=RlTH PIe*ދb:ttw}ȏ䪖ezgH»ik,:)a~ϵ#V=oe޴qk]?)**PRT!rcWI(oJ+0cRY vf[CdblmaHvtD9fUӜlRR,֍ ,c`b4<3eo}YѠ9A)g·xMW =#/X,$C0]8A}5Y+qъ%J2={$/mfmpjŎXDmMeur -BY7Pf yU?/SPG`,ͬ@IojoPh6HMaUkqh"n VOa,'VKMvͨȶFI WV܁ڒTawnͳ?i ͊^nn٫ j G\YR!`5e63Dirw/pXȧ.\;,~?vM+nns;[Lɹ]ΐذ9KDs4z:&n&zQY^B/GԼ Csd$gb^+ۂG-S'R0+>X\yֵS(eD j->yJ\jqk/;G'^K132EoFn 6]R}xUPJ K=rC}AT(չePR _uN,=ϑ}>S0+’.d˔6 يq _5eefzTHիF7ĵe0r'L}o%-<_7)K].i^ӡ̴ۛE*uWlǿERy ,$u&Ey/j3Jmn`LnK(n4ʟmfcu})F6vنxg4be$L`:z=pCMz0f59㍳o!=$OޙKZy{c.u>N.7Ko6A /_|AЧ:PVpz[r_sh TE3ФoO${9<"Z^Ysb}wy%5ld"$/W3c"xicu :PWȠ:]`GF |]a {=YSC}YQ~[6_NQ؏/q7om$Njy#zOh>v}10}:DlxΰBͪ`XZQ|wz Y!w5 R1F}W%@D餔.YyEXC$?'.u N#2g^Q.U=Vэ[̄ş)%kccOS]vc՘bH]/2BIF/UgwGs y q_ A125)|s [熯Q,bCN**BiPۋH{GĆZwR-*6T9ߣO˅ق^g~SxM*M{2WcL-Fjh{IrWǿEh`en*Rbzy_6uˏU/k+cƐU SN[msh=x ^ٴMFRJ#z:)RU}ZW[)*;꫍eb 7+8Evj3Nbpfr#b3r}2d?̛i4[M lRZ!\Y kfV N.x?qpq^t謚 Mą ].]s( â}(|`-+Jn\V~j.^צ}%47lZM8;ԛ>[֙N*:)B M1ټ:>twIVȴVpj:NpzVoH{]rڡA+fa9mHߤw?H~[>;B&$ܭ1krR.Э m;E!QPV;|r ُW!~zZ(jc͚Hg/ЗrƺiŪc|8KJ&!Yf5H{o%y[@>@@lk6L\N__lx)Zu6}/~IuKU_L3[C<(&9>Ilեs!{2ޮcBTFH`{{;؎|fYWcQ89ipN(@Dv ^{nr^Vń̛vkS)5+`zW=%,+BU"5n} ^zžL-Wa▵]"RQ4|q%DVGf]pGSJ`ڶm6le]Պ(U佼gf[vzPQ~f/w,J]do_RYb0zZUZ_({lJ' Shc\ L )7"LU/٥XGɭѲEޟwH=;l8 gFMշ,!ĜUFvha;ȮQE RWV:)} a'
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1