Michael Henchard's drunken decision to sell his wife at a country fair sets in motion a tragic tale of ambition, guilt, and downfall in this 19th-century fiction. Hardy follows Henchard's rise to become mayor of the fictional town of Casterbridge and his eventual destruction through pride and past secrets.
One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot. They were plainly but not ill clad, though the thick hoar of dust which had accumulated on their shoes and garments from an obviously long journey lent a disadvantageous shabbiness to their appearance just now. The man was of fine figure, swarthy, and stern in aspect; and he showed in profile a facial angle so slightly inclined as to be almost perpendicular. He wore a short jacket of brown corduroy, newer than the remainder of his suit, which was a fustian waistcoat with white horn buttons, breeches of the same, tanned leggings, and a straw hat overlaid with black glazed canvas. At his back he carried by a looped strap a rush basket, from which protruded at one end th…Continue reading →
A Victorian novelist and poet who captured rural English life with unflinching realism, this master storyteller (1840-1928) created tragic tales of individuals crushed by social conventions and fate. His novels like Tess of the d'Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge revealed the harsh realities beneath idealized country living, influencing modern literature's psychological depth. All works by Thomas Hardy →
Browse all Fiction · 19th Century works