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  • Published: 6 August 2007
  • ISBN: 9781405669153
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Pages: 210

The Mayor of Casterbridge




Penguin Classics relaunch.

Hardy’s powerful tale set in mid-19th century Dorset tells the tragic story of Michael Henchard, a man who cannot escape his past.

Drunk on rum at a country fair, Henchard sells his wife to a sailor for five guineas. Unable to find them and overcome with guilt and remorse he vows to be teetotal for 21 years. Many years later his wife seeks him out in Casterbridge where he has gained both wealth and the well respected position of Mayor. His family restored to him, Henchard’s happiness should be complete, but beneath the surface still smoulders the same impestousness and temper which combine with fate to bring about his degredation and ruin.

The BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation encompasses all the power and passion of Hardy’s tragic tale and stars John Nettles as Newson, David Calder as Michael Henchard and Janet Dale as Susan.

  • Published: 6 August 2007
  • ISBN: 9781405669153
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Pages: 210

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About the author

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840. His father was a stonemason. He was brought up near Dorchester and trained as an architect. In 1868 his work took him to St Juliot's church in Cornwall where he met his wife-to-be, Emma. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was rejected by publishers but Desperate Remedies was published in 1871 and this was rapidly followed by Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874). He also wrote many other novels, poems and short stories. Tess of the D'Urbervilles was published in 1891. His final novel was Jude the Obscure (1895). Hardy was awarded the Order of Merit in 1920 and the gold medal of the Royal Society of Literature in 1912. His wife died in 1912 and he later married his secretary. Thomas Hardy died 11 January 1928.

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