description: Hardy's powerful tale set in mid-19th century Dorset tells the tragic story of Michael Henchard, a man who cannot escape his past. Drunk on rum at a country fair, Henchard sells his wife to a sailor for five guineas. Overcome with guilt and remorse he vows to not drink for twenty-one years. Decades later, his wife seeks him out in Casterbridge, where he has gained both wealth and the well respected position of mayor. His family restored to him, Henchard's happiness should be complete, but beneath the surface still smolders the same impetuousness and temper which combine with fate to bring about his degradation and ruin.
language: English
title: The Mayor of Casterbridge
titlecomplete: The Mayor of Casterbridge
characters: Lucetta Templeman, Donald Farfrae, Richard Newson, Michael Henchard, Elizabeth-Jane Newson, Susan Henchard
genres: Literature, Classics, Literary Fiction, Novels, Classic Literature, Victorian, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature
ratings_count: 61198
places: United Kingdom, Dorset, England, Wessex, England
publisher: BBC Audiobooks