The Mayor of Casterbridge - Hardcover

Hardy, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 13: 9798888976661

Publisher: Mint Editions, 2026

Synopsis

The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) is a masterwork of emotional complexity, heartbreak, and redemption by celebrated English author Thomas Hardy.

Drunk and outraged, Michael Henchard auctions off his own wife and daughter for five guineas. The following morning, he searches for his family to no avail and, with the clarity of sobriety, swears off liquor for the next 21 years. In that time, he becomes a successful grain merchant and the titular Mayor of Casterbridge, all the while keeping the shameful truth of his family’s disappearance under strict secrecy. Through Henchard, Thomas Hardy paints with compassion a picture of a man whose virtues run as deep as his faults. Ultimately, the past refuses to stay buried, and with the return of his wife and child, Henchard must manage his public image as the mayor of a quiet and close knit Dorsetshire town with the weight of familial responsibility, honor, and truth.

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About this title

About the Author

Thomas Hardy (1840-1938) was an English poet and novelist who initially trained and showed promise as an architect before finding success as a writer. His style and form followed in the Victorian realist tradition of George Eliot and the Romanticism of William Wordsworth. Hardy’s work displays a concern that the conventions of Victorian society were damaging to many and places an emphasis on empathy toward those it made suffer. His richly drawn characters engage in a timeless striving for happiness and a chance to rise above a world that offers implacable barriers to their hopes. Although he regarded himself primarily as a poet, he first gained notoriety as the author of novels like Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d’Ubervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). His poetry was acclaimed by some younger poets during his lifetime and lauded posthumously by greats like Ezra Pound and Philip Larkin. 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Michael Henchard walked a little without speaking; then he said, "I'll sell her to any man that will take her off my hands, meaning the person and the child. I may as well put an end to this today. Will any man buy her?" There was a dead silence. "I am open to an offer for this woman and child," he continued. The silence was broken by a laugh from a man at the back of the tent. "Five shillings," said he. "No," said Henchard. "That's low. I want a fair price, and I'll have it."

Edition details

• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798888976661
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342