Penguin Authors: Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy

This tale of love--from reckless fervor to selfless constancy--is firmly rooted in the rich rural byways that Hardy knew so well. Bathsheba Everdene, determined to run the farm that has always belonged to her family, is loved by three men: the loal farmer Boldwood, a solid, yet passionate squire; Gabriel Oak, a quiet, devoted shepherd; and fascinating, ruthless Sergeant Troy. In this powerful, dramatic story Bathsheba, capricious and willful, comes to comprehend the true nature of generosity, humility, and, ultimately, love.
 

In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. Subtitled ‘A Story of a Man of Character’, Hardy’s powerful and sympathetic study of the heroic but deeply flawed Henchard is also an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of a close-knit Dorsetshire town.