"The Mayor of Casterbridge" is an 1886 novel by the legendary English writer Thomas Hardy. One of Hardy's "Wessex" novel (a fictional region of Britain that Hardy invented), the book is generally acknowledged as one of the author's masterpieces. The story, set in the town of Casterbridge, concerns a married young farmer named Michael Henchard who, one drunken night, auctions off his wife Susan and baby daughter Elizabeth-Jane to a passing sailor, Richard Newson for five pounds. Waking up the next morning and unable to locate his family, Henchard is mortified and vows never to drink again. Years later, with Newson apparently lost at sea, Susan returns to Wessex with a grown-up Elizabeth-Jane in tow and rekindles her romance with Henchard, who has now grown to be a wealthy farmer and, as it turns out, the Mayor of Casterbridge. What follows is a wild and adventurous tale of love, marriage, betrayal and hidden secrets in a book that has long been hailed as one of the most consequential and entertaining books in English literary history. Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" is presented here in its original and unabridged format

Mode of access: World Wide Web