Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Add The Mayor of Casterbridge to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Look Inside

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Introduction by Craig Raine

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by J.I.M. Stewart

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by J.I.M. Stewart

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Craig Raine

By Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Craig Raine

By Thomas Hardy

By Thomas Hardy

Best Seller

Part of Vintage Classics

Part of Modern Library Classics

Part of Everyman's Library Classics Series

Paperback $14.00

Nov 08, 2016 | ISBN 9780345804013

Paperback $13.00

May 14, 2002 | ISBN 9780375760068

Mass Market Paperback $5.99

Mar 01, 1981 | ISBN 9780553210248

Hardcover $30.00

May 25, 1993 | ISBN 9780679420354

Ebook $4.99

Nov 29, 2005 | ISBN 9780553902136

All Formats
+
    The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
    Mass Market Paperback $5.99
    Mar 01, 1981 | ISBN 9780553210248

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (4) +
    • $14.00

      Nov 08, 2016 | ISBN 9780345804013

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $13.00

      May 14, 2002 | ISBN 9780375760068

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $5.99

      Mar 01, 1981 | ISBN 9780553210248

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $30.00

      May 25, 1993 | ISBN 9780679420354

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Nov 29, 2005 | ISBN 9780553902136

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About The Mayor of Casterbridge

    The Mayor of Casterbridge, one of Thomas Hardy’s most powerful novels, opens with a scene of shocking heartlessness. In a fit of drunken rage, Michael Henchard, an out-of-work laborer, sells his wife and baby daughter to a passing sailor. When the horror of what he has done dawns on him the next day, he determines to set his life on a different path, and through years of hard work and ambition rises to become the rich and respectable mayor of his town. Secret guilt continues to haunt this proud and brooding man, however, and when his wife and grown daughter return to Casterbridge, Henchard is set on the path to a dramatic confrontation with his own deeply flawed nature. Hardy’s keen insight into the course of wayward lives and his instinctive feel for the beauty of the rural landscape come together in this unforgettable portrait of a tragic hero.



    About The Mayor of Casterbridge

    One of Hardy’s most powerful novels, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a shocking and haunting scene: In a drunken rage, Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a visiting sailor at a local fair. When they return to Casterbridge some nineteen years later, Henchard—having gained power and success as the mayor—finds he cannot erase the past or the guilt that consumes him. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a rich, psychological novel about a man whose own flaws combine with fate to cause his ruin.

    This Modern Library Paperback Classic reprints the authoritative 1912 Wessex edition, as well as Hardy’s map of Wessex.

    About The Mayor of Casterbridge

    From its spectacular opening–the astonishing scene in which drunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a passing sailor at a county fair–to the breathtaking series of discoveries at its conclusion, The Mayor of Casterbridge claims a unique place among Thomas Hardy’s finest and most powerful novels.

    Rooted in an actual case of wife-selling in early nineteenth-century England, the story build into an awesome Sophoclean drama of guilt and revenge, in which the strong, willful Henchard rises to a position of wealth and power–only to suffer a most bitter downfall. Proud, obsessed, ultimately committed to his own destruction, Henchard is, as Albert Guerard has said, “Hardy’s Lord Jim…his only tragic hero and one of the greatest tragic heroes in all fiction.

    About The Mayor of Casterbridge

    The Mayor of Casterbridge is a man haunted by his past. In his youth he betrayed his wife and baby daughter in a shocking incident that led him to swear never to touch alcohol again for twenty-one years. He has since risen from his humble origins to become a respected pillar of the community in Casterbridge, but his secrets cannot stay hidden forever.

    Thomas Hardy’s almost supernatural insight into the course of wayward lives, his instinctive feeling for the beauty of the rural landscape, and his power to invest that landscape with moral significance all came together in an utterly fluent way in The Mayor of Casterbridge.

    A classically shaped story about the rise and fall of the brooding and sometimes brutal Michael Henchard in the harsh world of nineteenth-century rural England, The Mayor of Casterbridge is an emblematic product of Hardy’s maturity–vigorous, forceful, and unclouded by illusions.

    About The Mayor of Casterbridge

    One of Hardy’s most powerful novels, The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a shocking and haunting scene: In a drunken rage, Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a visiting sailor at a local fair. When they return to Casterbridge some nineteen years later, Henchard—having gained power and success as the mayor—finds he cannot erase the past or the guilt that consumes him. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a rich, psychological novel about a man whose own flaws combine with fate to cause his ruin.

    This Modern Library Paperback Classic reprints the authoritative 1912 Wessex edition, as well as Hardy’s map of Wessex.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also in Everyman’s Library Classics Series

    Byron's Travels
    Novels, Tales, Journeys

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    Jude the Obscure
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    Far From the Madding Crowd
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    Jude the Obscure
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    Far From the Madding Crowd
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    Jude the Obscure
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    Far From the Madding Crowd
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    Jude the Obscure
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    Far From the Madding Crowd
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    Also by Thomas Hardy

    Jude the Obscure
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Far from the Madding Crowd
    Tess of the D'Urbervilles
    Far From the Madding Crowd
    See all books by Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    About Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840. In his writing, he immortalized the site of his birth—Egdon Heath, in Dorset, near Dorchester, England. Delicate as a child, he was taught at home by his mother before he attended grammar school…. More about Thomas Hardy

    Product Details

    Category: Classic Fiction | Historical Fiction

    Paperback | $14.00
    Published by Vintage
    Nov 08, 2016 | 384 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780345804013

    Category: Classic Fiction | Historical Fiction

    Paperback | $13.00
    Published by Modern Library
    May 14, 2002 | 416 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780375760068

    Category: Classic Fiction | Historical Fiction

    Mass Market Paperback | $5.99
    Published by Bantam Classics
    Mar 01, 1981 | 352 Pages | 4-3/16 x 6-7/8 | ISBN 9780553210248

    Category: Classic Fiction | Historical Fiction

    Hardcover | $30.00
    Published by Everyman’s Library
    May 25, 1993 | 400 Pages | ISBN 9780679420354

    Category: Classic Fiction | Historical Fiction

    Ebook | $4.99
    Published by Bantam Classics
    Nov 29, 2005 | 352 Pages | ISBN 9780553902136

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “Hardy’s world is a world that can never disappear.” —Margaret Drabble

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook