The Mayor of Casterbridge

Set in the market town of Casterbridge, this novel opens with Michael Henchard, a young hay-trusser, making a shocking decision in a moment of drunken anger. Years later he has become the town's respected mayor, but his past returns to unsettle him. Proud, impulsive, and generous by turns, Henchard struggles with rivals, with old secrets, and with his own temper. The book is a study of character as destiny and a portrait of a changing rural economy.