The Mayor of Casterbridge

In a drunken rage, the hay-trusser Michael Henchard sells his wife and child at a country fair—then, years later, having risen to become the respected Mayor of Casterbridge, he is slowly destroyed as the buried sin of his past returns to claim him. Hardy’s powerful tragedy traces the rise and ruin of a proud, flawed man undone by his own character and the turning of fate. Rich in irony and pathos, The Mayor of Casterbridge is a masterful study of guilt, ambition, and the impossibility of escaping the past. Stark and moving, it stands among the finest tragic novels in the English language.