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.

    Unavailable
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Unavailable
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Unavailable
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Ebook423 pages6 hours

    The Mayor of Casterbridge

    By Thomas Hardy

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    A young hay-trusser named Michael Henchard quarrels with his wife, Susan. Spurred by alcohol, he decides to auction off his wife and baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, to a sailor, Mr. Newson, for five guineas. Once sober the next day, he is too late to recover his family. When he realises that his wife and daughter are gone, probably for good, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSovereign
    Release dateAug 15, 2014
    ISBN9781910343913
    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

    Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      It’s Come to This

      Sep 1, 2021

      It’s Come to This
      16 min read

    • Article

      Following a Thread

      Sep 19, 2019

      Following a Thread
      6 min read

    • Article

      Apparition

      Mar 26, 2020

      Apparition
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Social Picnic

      May 15, 2022

      The Social Picnic
      2 min read

    • Article

      La Otra Historia

      Jun 30, 2022

      La Otra Historia
      14 min read

    • Article

      Only a Fragrance

      Sep 1, 2022

      Only a Fragrance
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      Odd Jobs

      Jul 19, 2017

      Odd Jobs
      3 min read

    • Article

      Too Much, Magic Bus

      Dec 9, 2019

      Too Much, Magic Bus
      8 min read

    • Article

      My Interiors Life: Weaned On The Small Screen

      Nov 25, 2021

      FOR ME, IT WAS ALL DOWN TO what I saw on the box (which was a lot) — and this extended too to the arenas of action: a fantastic littering of such beautiful and extraordinary interiors, not one of which had I ever set foot in, nor even so much as glim

      9 min read

    • Article

      Low Expectations

      Feb 1, 2019

      Low Expectations
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra

      Jun 8, 2021

      Selim the half-wit hoarded everything—that was the story they told me my first day in waste management. Selim had lost his wife, and I guess everyone figured he took up hoarding as a way to fill the void. It started out with stuff his wife might have

      24 min read

    • 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

      Very Hampstead, very Kingsley Amis

      Oct 29, 2020

      I HEARD THESE WORDS in the Flask Bookshop in Flask Walk, Hampstead — which I owned and ran from 1975 until 1988 — while slumped in the back room on my leather swivel chair, quite as usual, smoking a pipe and reading: I was always reading. It was a un

      10 min read

    • Article

      Spellcheck

      Jan 1, 2019

      Whose history I do not know. I do know I’ve been e-upbraided for my fast and loose spelling of Woden, the god whose last worshipper must have slipped under the sod during the medieval period, somewhere in the 10th century—imagine those bog-soaked des

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Love Letter To Norfolk

      Apr 27, 2022

      A Love Letter To Norfolk
      5 min read

    • Article

      Stop Hating on Adjectives!

      Jun 12, 2019

      A common admonition in creative writing pedagogy is, “Cut as many adjectives as possible.” I propose that this rule springs from mere prejudice. The post Stop Hating on Adjectives! appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Taking a Walk

      Jun 30, 2021

      Taking a Walk
      2 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Sep 1, 2022

      1. Here there’s no rainy season.Sun scalds my forehead,yet the pool is empty. Beside it,a toppled table, its glass surface shattered.The asphalt is too hot for bare feet. 2. Far away: white hillocksand white dunes under a deepblue sky. Swirling winds

      5 min read

    • Article

      On Country

      Nov 9, 2016

      On Country
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Mayor of Casterbridge

    4/5

    21 ratings53 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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
    • 5/5
      This book is beautifully written and is more of a character driven story than a plot driven. Henchard in a episode of drunkenness auctions of his wife and daughter. Takes a vow to never drink for 21 years to make amends for what he has done. He becomes a successful businessman and is made Mayor of the town of Casterbridge. Into his life enters a Scotsman that he loves, his wife and her daugher, Elizabeth-Jane. Of course there is also the "other woman". I especially enjoyed the first pictures that Hardy creates where we see the man, woman, child walking into the village, tired, with no place to lay their heads and rest. Love this quote, "one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except perhaps, fair play." "when I was rich, I didn't need what I could have hadand now I be poor I can't have what I need." "simple sorry is better than looming misery." Love how Hardy paints this picture of late summer/fall "...hedges, tress, and other vegetation, which had entered the blackened green stage of colour that this doomed leaves pass through on their way to dingy, and yellow, and red. I love observing nature and this just range so true to me. And the book arrived at the end of fall here in Minnesota. So very fitting picture. Hardy uses references to other literature, frequently using the Bible such as Jacob in Padan-Aran and excerpts from Greek mythology, Bellerophon. Austerliz (Napoleonic War), Character of fate - even sober Henchard is "vehement gloomy being who had quitted the ways of vulgar without the light to guide him on a better way." Henchard is a man who is isolated/lonely; he is separated from his wife by death, his friend by estrangement and his daughter by ignorance.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      Hardy's best novel, by far.
    • 3/5
      Hoofdthema: ondergang van een man die schijnbaar zijn eigen leven had gemaakt; het verleden is niet weg te moffelen, komt onvermijdelijk weer boven; het lot beheerst ons leven; maar ook eigen inbreng: namelijk trots doet Henchard verder neergaan, terwijl Farfrae door zijn open geest wel stand houdt; dus realisme, in een romantische setting. Maar ook onwaarschijnlijke verhaalovergangen (plotse verschijningen, ?) Opvallend: organische optreden van het leefmilieuVrouwenfiguren eerder zwak uitgewerkt, cfr engelachtige Elisabeth. Ook Farfrae is nauwelijks geloofwaardig. Einde eerder beklemtoning menselijke zucht naar warmte.
    • 3/5
      Very readable and enjoyable story about the varied character of Henchard and Farfrae his reflection.
    • 4/5
      Set almost entirely in a town, this novel seems to have fewer of Hardy's lyrical descriptive passages than other of his works I have read. The story reminded my of the Greek tragedies - despite all good intentions, the main character Michael Henchard is doomed by his very personality.

      The book opens with Henchard getting drunk and selling his wife and child to a stranger. He regrets this once he sobers up but it is too late. Years later, when he has become successful & is mayor, his wife returns with her daughter. His life goes downhill from this point. Henchard's fiery temper and somewhat proud temperment lead him into situations that his better nature regrets every time it seems like he might get things going his way again. For example, his lie to the sailor Newsom about Elizabeth-Jane being dead is ridiculous (and he knows it) but he can't bear to admit to either the sailor or Elizabeth-Jane that he needs her.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      This is the second novel of Hardy's I have read this year. It is not as romantic as Far from the Madding Crowd, but it was an enjoyable read. Hardy has a reputation as somber, but although this is a novel of tragedy, a great man overcome by his own flaws, particularly pride, it was an exhilarating read. I loved Hardy as a poet before I appreciated his novels. His signature use of language combines the romantic, Victorian and modern in a way that is surprising and engaging. He has a sense of humor. His characters are types, but complex types, with contradictions that create a winding plot. The plot is not surprising. I would have to use the word "adumbration" multiple times in detailing the story's development. The romantic use of the fictional Wessex with its Roman ruins and its remnants of Druidic traditions holds huge appeal for me. The scale of the novel is not epic, it is intimate and compassionate.
    • 3/5
      I had to read this in senior English. It was OK. I'm not looking forward to reading more Hardy, much of which is in the 1000 Novels list along with annotations that detail the gloomy, twisted rural plotlines.
    • 5/5

      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?
    • 4/5
      I was surprised how much I liked this book. Ok, it's a classic, the font is tiny, and it looked like a long hard read. The story is about Mr. Henchard, who in a drunken state, sells his wife and infant daughter. Twenty years later, the wife and daughter decide to look for him and discover that he has become so successful that he is the mayor of Casterbridge. Really interesting plot and great characters.
    • 3/5
      was this like 'Home and Away' in its day? Flawed characters and much drama in their relationships and business dealings.Looking forward to visiting 'Hardy country' as this novel was certainly very evocative of place and time.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite books. Perhaps the greatest depiction of the repercussions of untreated alcoholism and the 'dry drunk' I've ever read. The faulty perceptions, the guilt, the grandiosity, the paranoia, the self-centeredness, the lies, the secrets, the horrible collateral damage, it's all here, as only Hardy could write it. I've read the book before, several times, but every time I read it I find a new layer. The depiction of the "Mayor" is heartbreaking, from beginning to end, a true tragedy in the sense he is never able to get out of his own way. It's a book I wish I'd written.
    • 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
      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.
    • 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?
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 2/5
      all about the importance of your name. very true in todays world.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      Not Hardy's best - some nice characterization, but contrived plot.Read Apr 2006
    • 5/5
      [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.