The Mayor of Casterbridge (with an Introduction by Joyce Kilmer) (Paperback)

from ncgraham

The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a shocking episode. Tired, bitter, and more than a little drunk, journeyman-laborer Michael Henchard puts his wife Susan and their daughter Elizabeth-Jane up for auction on the fairgrounds of Weydon-Priors. Unexpectedly, a sailor takes the offer, and as Susan ...

from janoorani24

This is the story of Michael Henchard's life in rural England at the start of the 19th century. Casterbridge was Hardy's ninth novel, and shows the maturity of a seasoned novelist. Hardy trained to be an architect, and became a novelist gradually through self-education; he didn't become published...

from m.belljackson

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 u...

from reading_fox

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 jou...

from atimco

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 ...