The Mayor of Casterbridge (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

By Thomas Hardy and Phillip Lopate

The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

• New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
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• Comments by other famous authors
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• Bibliographies for further reading
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All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

 

Thomas Hardy’s first masterpiece, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a scene of such heartlessness and cruelty that it still shocks readers today. A poor workman named Michael Henchard, in a fit of drunken rage, sells his wife and baby daughter to a stranger at a country fair. Stricken with remorse, Henchard forswears alcohol and works hard to become a prosperous businessman and the respected mayor of Casterbridge. But he cannot erase his past. His wife ultimately returns to offer Henchard the choice of redemption or a further descent into his own self-destructive nature. A dark, complex story, The Mayor of Casterbridge brims with invention, vitality, and even wit.

 

Phillip Lopate, a professor at Hofstra University in New York City, is best known as an essayist (“Bachelorhood,” “Against Joie De Vivre,” “Portrait of My Body”). He is the editor of the anthology Art of the Personal Essay and has written a novel, The Rug Merchant, and a book of poetry, The Daily Round.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Release date: Jun 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781411432666

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.

Reviews for The Mayor of Casterbridge (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

[algybama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The urban setting makes this novel very different from the author's earlier work. There are fewer trees and hills to look upon, and so the plot takes precedence over description. The story moves quickly and smoothly, and only at times did I feel like Hardy was fast-forwarding through difficulties by using reported dialogue to cover complicated scenes that I think he wasn't up to actually writing. But that only happened once or twice. Otherwise the structure of the novel is sound and without many obvious flaws. The quality of the writing tended to diminish at around the 2/3 point, but it still ended well, as all the different strands came together.I didn't find the self-improvement scheme of Elizabeth to be all that realistically described, and I didn't think the character of Henchard to be all that well-realized - often relying on repeated details of his superstition, for example, to hammer home the point that he actually has character - but otherwise I found the unintentionally awful Farfrae to to be lovingly drawn, the moral ambivalence of the narrator to be effective, and for the overall tragedy to feel like it mattered.

[mattviews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Mayor of Casterbridge, focused and simple the premise has been in itself, affords a quite convoluted plot that packs with events as the memorably niched characters play out their lives and unravels the novel. The book is riddled with a well-faceted theme of conscience: the purging of conscience and its reconciliation through an allusion to deceit and characters' shameless past that ceaselessly haunt them and render them despondent and guilty. The tragic actions revolve around one man who manages to establish prestige, wealth, and authority over Casterbridge and ironically the very elite status leads to the fall of the deeply flawed man. In a fit of drunken anger and delirium, young Michael Henchard sells his wife Susan and baby daughter Elizabeth-Jane to a sailor for 5 guineas at a county fair. Over the course of the years, though he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the town from literally nothing, Henchard still affords a ray of hope in reuniting with his family, until he meets Lucetta Templeman who nurses him in America. Such black spot of his youth as wife-sale caused by his fits of spleen not only renders him ashamed of himself but also wears an aspect of recent crime: something that will shame him until his dying day. Behind his success is always lurking such shameful secret of his troubled past shielded from the public and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. Contributing to the suspenseful nature of the novel is the return of the mayor's wife and daughter some 18 years later whom Michael Henchard believed to have perished at the sea. The sentimental reunion, which marks Henchard respectable 20-year abstinence from alcohol, brings about a heartrending revelation and an ironical sequence of events that irritate Henchard. The very truth cruelly leaves in him an emotional void that he unconsciously craves to fill. At the same time, the regard he has acquired for Elizabeth-Jane has eclipsed by this revelation. The new-sprung hope of his loneliness (or "friendless solitude" in Hardy's own words) that she will be to him a daughter of whom he can feel as proud as of the actual daughter she believes herself to be, has been stimulated by the (yet another) unexpected arrival of the sailor to a greedy exclusiveness in relation to her. All these ineluctable consequences of his past shameful transaction at the fair take a stupendous toll on Henchard and his conscience. He is also uneasy at the thought of Elizabeth-Jane's passion for Donald Farfrae, whose rising prestige and success in his independent business provoke in Henchard enmity and envy. Henchard quails at the thought that Farfrae shall utterly usurp her mild filial sympathy with him, that she might be withdrawn from him by degrees through Farfrae's influence and learns to despise him. The pricking of conscience subtly manifests in Henchard's solicitous love and growing jealousy. His fear of losing tie after the death of his wife is sympathetically understandable. Though he in his effrontery has been weaning Elizabeth-Jane from the sailor by saying he is her father, she understands that Henchard has himself been deceived in her identity. Lucetta Templeman, inescapably torn between her past disgraceful entanglement with Henchard and her love for a more refined gentleman, is also pricked by her conscience. In an impulsive moment, purely out of gratitude, Henchard proposes to the Jersey woman who has been so far compromised to him. But as the years gone by, Lucetta is more convinced that she has been forced into an equivocal position with Henchard by an accident. She has discovered some quantities in Henchard, who is either well-educated nor refined in manner, that irretrievably renders him less desirable as a husband than she has at first thought him to be, notwithstanding there remains a conscientious wish to being about her union with him. When Lucetta learns of the wife-sale, she immediately dismisses any possibility of being with him and realizes she cannot risk himself in his hands. It will have been letting herself down to take Henchard's name after such an ignominious scandal. But her past which she diligently seals, if not expunge altogether haunts her. The surreptitious history with Henchard becomes the torture of her meek conscience and the reconciling of which through a marriage with a second man remains also her secret alone. Subtitled "A Story of a Man of Character", Henchard's origins remain unexplained but he literally begins and ends the novel away from Casterbridge, where he achieves his prominent status ironically destines his downfall, through the lampooning and skimmity-ride. A psychological study, the novel accentuates the fury that causes him to lash out against both himself and those who stand closest to him. It depicts to the fullest the very self-destructive nature of the power that causes Henchard's fall, which is so obvious through his louring invidiousness

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Generally a good read, I love short chapters, I'm not a big fan of this edition however. I find notes irritating, even if they provide useful information, and terrible if they dont. But they novel itself flows along quite easily and the reader never feels tired.

[hemingwayok · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[morryb_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hardy gives a good account of how one evil choice can lead to many others when a person seeks redemption without confession. Michael Henchard wants to improve himself, but he never wants to reveal his past. For Instance, Henchard swears off liquor, but he never confesses why he ha done so. Thomas aHardy really seems to understand many of our own thought processes as we decide we can make up for our past transgressions if we only really lead a good life. The mayor's past continually comes back on him, until he finally has no place to turn. From there it leads to the inevitable tragic ending. This is not a heart warming feel good book, but it is a good read.

[benedict8-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such beautiful writing and an unusual story. There is simply no way to know how it will end so you know you have to finish quickly.

[alisony-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh Mr. Hardy - canst thou ever forgive me for doubting thee?The book is finished. My heart is sore. In my grief I can't bear to put it back on the bookshelf yet. Let it stay beside me on the bedside cabinet just a little while longer.How wrong was I in my original assessment of Hardy's prose. I wept whilst reading this book. WEPT! Real tears! And not just once either. Hardy initially cut to the chase with alarming alacrity, and it almost put me off continuing as I felt he had divulged the plot before I was engrossed enough to care much for the characters. More fool me. That was merely the tip of the iceberg, for the tale that developed was to have more twists and turns than a doorknob.And the characterisation - oh, like nothing I've read before. Mr. Henchard was the most unpleasant of protagonists - harsh, proud, stubborn, jealous, cold, pompous - yet the whole way through the novel I was rooting for him, willing him on, desperately hoping he'll say the right thing here, do the right thing there. In the same way that my husband's wayward driving compels me to pump an imaginary brake as a passenger, so too Henchard's repeated mistakes had me constantly silently screaming "Stop! Look out! Take care!".I'm now 5 books into my 50 book target. How I fear the 45 others shall now pale by comparison.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first read The Mayor of Casterbridge in my early teens, and I remember my shock at what happens in the opening chapters. It was interesting to revisit this novel as an older reader and see if what I remembered was accurate. For the most part it was, even down to the pennies that Susan Henchard lays by to weight her eyelids when she dies. This was rather heavy reading for a young teen, and it certainly made an impression on me. The storyline is well-known. In a moment of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife Susan and daughter to a passing sailor at Weydon Fair. He then goes on to become a well-respected corn dealer in the nearby town of Casterbridge. Susan believes that the sale is binding and lives with the sailor as his wife. But when she learns the truth of the matter, she sets out to make things right with her husband, for the sake of her daughter. And thus begins a saga of deception, twisted relationships, and self-destruction. Credit for the original comparison between The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) goes to my friend ncgraham, whose passing observation on that score gave me a new perspective as I read. The parallels in this story to Les Misérables are really stunning. Toward the end, I noticed that Hardy calls some of the impoverished Casterbridge people "misérables." Intentional allusion? Both stories follow the life of a man who suffers from a foolish act all his life. Somehow this man becomes the guardian of a young girl not his daughter, and that girl is the light of his life. And in both stories, her romantic relationship pulls her away from her adopted father and results in a separation between them. But unlike Valjean, Henchard never is redeemed. Elizabeth-Jane does not appear in time to speak with him on his deathbed as Cosette does with Valjean. And Henchard's life is not particularly inspiring and beautiful like Valjean's — in fact, it's quite the opposite. I think the difference is because God is not a character in His own right in Casterbridge as He is in Les Misérables. Everything is determined by human passion, by chance and coincidence, and we're left feeling as if the floor could give way at any moment. Step on a rotten bit and you'll fall through — and there's no one there to catch you. It's grim.I am unsure what Hardy is really trying to portray in this story. One line in particular stood out to me, about "Nature's jaunty readiness to support unorthodox social principles" (312). Is Hardy supporting these unsanctioned relationships because Elizabeth-Jane was produced by them? Or are the social issues just a backthought to the engrossing character of Henchard? I felt a sense of futility as I read; there were so many chances for Henchard to give up his destructive course, but he never can. As with the other Hardy books I've read, this isn't a novel that I will ever really love. It's a good story, but ultimately it left me feeling frustrated. I suppose that means I cared about the characters, but I don't know that I really did. This novel never even comes close to the overarching greatness that is Les Misérables, but it's worth a read at least.

[markfinl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thomas Hardy is the anti-Jane Austen. Where her novels end in marriage, his novels usually end gloomily. The Mayor of Casterbridge is no exception. It reminds me of a Greek drama, where the main character is doomed from the start because of hubris. The locals of Casterbridge function as a Greek chorus as well, commenting on the action of the main players. I didn't find this quite as affecting as his other works because there are just too many plot contrivances. Characters appear and disappear, are dead then alive. For a novel so grounded in the realities of early 19th Century English rural life, the plot twists felt out of place.

[schmechi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thomas Hardy schildert den Werdegang von Michael Henchard vom armen, dem Alkohol zugeneigten Heubinder zum geachteten Mitglied der Gesellschaft, den schließlich die Schatten der Vergangenheit einholen. Er setzt dabei seine Figuren prächtig in Szene und entwickelt deren Charaktere in meisterhafter Weise. Greifbar wird auch die Athmosphäre der ländlichen Kleinstadt Casterbridge im frühviktorianischen England.Schwächen hingegen weist der Handlungsverlauf auf: Zu gekünstelt wirken die Wendungen, fast schon wie eine Seifenoper aus frühviktorianischer Zeit. Einerseits gelingt es Hardy dadurch zwar, eine stete Spannung aufzubauen und den Leser zu fesseln, andererseits verprellt er diesen auch durch allzu seichte und durchschaubare Handlungsknicke.Erwähnenswert ist auch das Glossar der Ausgabe, dass in lobenswerter Weise die zahlreichen Anspielungen Hardys auf die Literatur- und Kunstgeschichte sowie das alte Testament erläutert. In völlig unverständlicherweise Weise und entgegen der ansonsten tadellosen Übersetzung und der erwähnten Erläuterungen bleibt hingegen eines des Schlüsselereignisse des Romans, eine Schandparade zur öffentlichen Demütigung zweier Hauptprotagonisten, nicht nur unerläutert sondern auch unübersetzt ("Skimmity" bzw "Skimmington-Ritt"), was den grundsätzlich ausgezeichneten Eindruck, den die vorliegende Ausgabe macht, deutlich schmälert.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

after reading Tess I was intrigued but careful curious. This book moved a long just fine. Lots of story lines. Believable action of characters. Women more independent than in Tess. But again, very very tragic.

[refice_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I first read The Mayor of Casterbridge as part of a summer reading program when I was about 15 years old . At that time I wasn’t much of a reader but the story stuck with me for 45 years! A voracious reader today, I rarely reread books (too many yet to read to waste time rereading), but decided ample time had passed to merit another go!Loved it the second time around too! Despite the cumbersome 19th century discourse, the narrative flows effortlessly from one sub-plot to the next, engaging the reader in much the same way a TV soap opera does for a viewer.And what soap opera! The drunkard Michael Henchard, having shamefully sold his wife and child to a sailor, turns his life around. Eighteen years later, just as he is about betroth his less than reputable girlfriend, who should show up but the abandoned wife and child. Henchard, now respectable, does the right thing and ‘marries’ her and truly seems to enjoy spoiling their lovely daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. Ah, but his happiness turns bitter when the wife dies and he finds a secret note confessing that Elizabeth-Jane is indeed the sailor’s progeny, their own offspring having died shortly after he deserted them. Feeling unloved, Elizabeth-Jane moves in with her step-father’s ex-girlfriend, Lucetta, whom she mistakenly believes is highborn. Lucetta, in the meantime has fallen for Henchard’s handsome, young protégé Mr. Farfrae, and whose affections she proceeds to steal from Elizabeth-Jane. Oh what a tangled web we weave!Need I go on? You get the picture! If you are in the mood for a classic, The Mayor of Casterbridge is a fun one even though the prose is far removed from 21st century vernacular.

[glorybe1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[edit]I loved this book, I am a complete convert to Thomas Hardy and am saddened to think I have left it this long before delving in! He has a wonderful way of painting a picture with his words! You all of a sudden can see exactly what he is saying even though the language is so unlike the way we would talk today, I love it!Henchard arrives in town with his wife and baby daughter with very little money and no job, After a very stupid drunken act he throws his and his families lives into a downward spiral that he never escapes. He moves to Casterbridge and over the years things seem to be on the up for him, but as I said he can never make right the mistake he made and he is to live a nightmare for what he did. A great story, very well thought out and written, a brilliant book.

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mayor of Casterbridge is the wickedly funny and deeply affecting account of the train wreck that is Michael Henchard's life. Much of the humor comes from the Greek chorus like interludes in which some the the local lower class give their take on the doings if their "betters." Yet, this a tragedy of character. Henchard just can't seem not to hoist himself on every possible one of his petards, sometimes taking a somewhat innocent victim such as Lucetta with him. His combative sense of inferiority constantly eggs him into rivalry with both those seem such as Farfrae and unseen such as the sailor Newsome, Elizabeth Jane's father. His need to control and own people and things ultimately leaves him alone. All if the major characters are sympathetically drawn, finely shaded and colorful. The setting is splendidly golden. The honey hues of the stone, the grains, the sunlight wash over the story at times affecting a healing balm. The ancient ruins of Casterbridge underpin themes of wrongheaded malignant rivalry over vaunting pride, and plain old spitefulness as old as Hector and Achilles, Oedipus...you get the idea. Indeed, Henchard is a deeply flawed hero in the classical mode. There is never a dull moment in the Hardy's masterful treatment of his subject. This is just plain old good stuff. Fun, dramatic. cringe worthy, fascinating storytelling at its best.

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not Hardy's best - some nice characterization, but contrived plot.Read Apr 2006

[ayling_52 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've always been a bit wary to read Hardy because his stories always seem so depressing and this book hasn't dissuaded me of that. He writes much more about the average person, the rural worker people and how poor and hard their lives are.Henchard sold his wife and child at a country fair after a bout of heavy drinking. Wholly repentant by the morning he bitterly regrets his actions. However, unable to find them again he wanders into the town of Casterbridge, where through hard work he raises himself up to be the Mayor - from nothing at all.I like Hardy's style of writing, his simplicity and subtle way of expressing himself and his characters. Some times it sounds very matter of fact. He gently weaves character traits into a person, and guides you through the story.I felt sorry for Henchard. I wanted to bash him around the head too. I cannot dislike him though for all his mistakes and pig-headedness. He really was his own worst enemy. In the end I respected him, he was a self-made man but he was ashamed of his background and the poverty of his previous life pervaded his thoughts and confidence in himself.The ending was powerful and gave me a sharp punch in the gut. I was already aware of the ending from watching a TV film of it a while ago, though I'd forgotten most of the story apart from the beginning and the ending. This was perhaps fortunate as the copy of the book actually tells you what happens at the end on the back cover. So a word of warning: Do not pick up the British TV-tie in edition with Alan Bates on the front cover unless you already know the conclusion!I will definitely be reading more of Hardy's works from now on, he is an interesting man and I like reading about this other side of the Victorian society you never really get to hear about.

[gbill_7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Largely forgettable.Except these quotes:On thinking deep thoughts in the middle of the night:“The latter sat up with her mother to the utmost of her strength, night after night. To learn to take the universe seriously there is no quicker way than to watch – to be a ‘waker,’ as the country people call it. Between the hours at which the last toss-pot went by and the first sparrow shook himself the silence in Casterbridge – barring the rare sound of the watchman – was broken in Elizabeth’s ear only by the time piece in the bedroom ticking frantically against the clock on the stairs; ticking harder and harder till it seemed to clang like a gong; and all this while the subtle-souled girl asking herself why she was born, why sitting in a room, and blinking at the candle; why things around her had taken the shape they wore in preference to every other possible shape; why they stared at her so helplessly, as if waiting for the touch of some wand that should release them from terrestrial constraint; what that chaos called consciousness, which spun in her at this moment like a top, tended to, and began in. Her eyes fell together; she was awake, yet she was asleep.”On purity:“So much for man’s rivalry, he thought. Death was to have the oyster, and Farfrae and himself the shells. But about Elizabeth-Jane: in the midst of his gloom she seemed to him as a pin-point of light. He had liked the look of her face as she answered him from the stairs. There had been affection in it, and above all things what he desired now was affection from anything that was good and pure. She was not his own; yet for the first time he had a faint dream that he might get to like her as his own – if she would only continue to love him.”

[mrafael_63 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think there are some reviewer who don't understand the Victorian respectability theme that plays in all of Hardy's novels. The Mayor is extreme in the pitting of raw human emotion against respectability. Hardy's characters are emblems of the age he depicts. He didn't intend to write pot boilers. Hardy was focusing on the the fault line between the desire for recognition and human honor, This is a rewarding read for the astute reader. Not to be be missed.

[supersam_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

all about the importance of your name. very true in todays world.

[technobrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How could you not get involved with a novel that begins with a man in a drunken stupor selling his wife at a fair?

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first ever visit to Dorchester prompted me to read my first ever Thomas Hardy novel - very few other writers are so closely associated with a specific town or city; the fictional town in this novel's title is based very closely on Dorset's county town. I loved this novel, and will certainly be reading more Hardy. The plot is simple yet at the same time captivating and timeless. Michael Henchard, an itinerant farm labourer, while drunk one day sells his wife and baby daughter to a sailor at a fair. He wakes up sober and immediately regrets his choice, forswearing alcohol for 21 years and going off to search for them, but it is too late. The ramifications of this moment of madness ring throughout the years and affect Henchard's life and those of his family and others. This is a story about fortune's wheel and how it can bring one man up and cast another man down. Marvellous stuff, full of colourful incident and some quirky minor characters.

[aarondesk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've been wanting to finish this for quite a while and finally did it. What to make of it? It reads to me much like a soap opera with twists and turns of the social variety that prevent final resolution until the very end. However, I liked it.

[m.belljackson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Mayor of Casterbridge rates 5 stars for all the compelling descriptions, yet only 4 for the plot which does tend to go on and revolve back around itself too many times.How welcome it would have been if young Elizabeth-Jane had just taken off back to the seaside to live with Captain Newsome until or if she decided to marry!That would have left her sad and deceitful ex-father and her tepid ex-love to sort life out between them.

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don’t entirely know how I got to my age without having read Thomas Hardy before. Quite probably it was because when I was about 14 years old, and we had a newfangled gadget called a Betamax Video Recorder, my Dad bought home Tess of the D’Urbervilles for us to watch - I found it unbearably dull and therefore assumed that Hardy’s novels would be too! I was quite wrong, because from the opening scenes I loved this and was totally engaged.

Under the influence of alcohol, and following a row, Henchard sells his wife at a country fair to a bidding sailor and the wife, Susan and their daughter leave with him. On waking the next day Henchard regrets his actions but is too late to take her back. He resolves not to drink again for the number of years he has been alive – 21 - and heads for the nearest town, Casterbridge, determined to make amends and to try to become a better person.

The story then jumps ahead 20 years and Henchard is now a successful hay merchant and the town’s mayor. He befriends a Scotsman who is passing through on his way to America and persuades him to stay on and work for him. But Henchard’s past soon catches up with him when his wife and daughter return, seeking him after the sailor’s death and the world that Henchard has built up starts crashing down.

I would definitely like to try some more Hardy – although I’m still not sure about Tess!

[la2bkk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A truly outstanding book, and perhaps my favorite work of 19th century British literature.The author's style is engaging, with interesting story lines and character development that flow seamlessly throughout. Mr. Hardy has that rare ability to capture the reader's attention and maintain it with wonderfully intertwined twists and turns that make for a compelling novel. Highly recommended.

[hovercraftofeels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Truly a triumph of Hardy's later works. Despite each of the main characters' personality flaws, one cannot help but become attached to their outcomes and trials. Hardy proves his mastery of the human condition in literature within the pages of this book, showing readers the perils of being obstinate, jealous, and vengeful. In contrast, readers are also shown how life can be nothing but misery for those who are meek and remain quiet when ill-treated. I do not agree that this is a parable regarding the evils of alcohol, as Michael Henchard, the main character, is not suffering because of his past drunkenness or due to the effects of remaining sober before returning to drink. This is a novel about human character and there is no teetotaller messages to be found. There really is not a dull moment throughout this novel and the parallels between the time periods are similar enough to keep even strictly anti-"Classics" readers entertained.

[kimmr_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Michael Henchard, who sells his wife and infant daughter for five guineas while drunk at a local fair. The consequences of this one impulsive action haunt his life thereafter. Henchard is a tragic figure, doomed not only by the character flaws of which he is only too aware, but also by a malignant, inescapable fate.

Hardy's writing is breathtaking. The novel is full of stunningly beautiful descriptive language. Hardy paints vivid pictures with words, bringing both characters and setting to life. It's a novel full of memorable characters. Henchard is the most striking, but in their quieter way Donald Farfarie, the Scotsman who wins and then loses Henchard's affection, the good and long-suffering Elizabeth-Jane and the complex Lucetta are also compelling, as are the secondary characters who form the chorus.

This is an intensely sad novel. It had the same effect on me as a Greek or a Shakespearean tragedy: you know it'll end badly, no matter how hard the characters try to avoid their fate. And I ached for Henchard, a man who desperately wants to find redemption, even when pride, arrogance, temper and impulsiveness undo him at every turn.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. He does a magnificient job, particularly with Henchard and Farfarie, although (in common with most male narrators) he struggles with young female voices.

It appears that I've turned into a huge Thomas Hardy fan after steafastly avoiding his novels for more than thirty years. Who'd have thought?