The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy

Oct 2015 · Assembled Stories · Narrated by Peter Joyce

5.0

2 reviews

Audiobook

14 hr 57 min

Unabridged

Eligible

Ratings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More

Want a 9 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.

Add

Switch to the ebook

About this audiobook

In a fit of drunken bitterness a young hay trusser, Michael Henchard, sells his wife Susan to Mr Newson, a sailor, at a country fair. The transaction also includes their daughter Elizabeth Jane. When sober the next day, he regrets his action but looks for them in vain and is eventually told they may have emigrated. Eighteen years later Henchard is the Mayor of Casterbridge and the people of the town believe him to be a widower. In recent times he has had an affair with a young woman in Jersey, Lucetta, while travelling there on business. She inherits a fortune and comes to Casterbridge to persuade Henchard to make ‘an honest woman’ of her. However, Susan, having lost her husband at sea, returns with the now grown Elizabeth Jane. The Mayor, wishing to atone for his crime of years before, remarries her. To complicate matters further a young ambitious Scot, Donald Farfrae, has settled in the town at Henchards instigation. Despite their rapidly worsening business relationship Donald initially casts a glad eye at Elizabeth Jane but then falls in love with Lucetta. What follows will destroy Henchard and cause all the main protagonists an immeasurable amount of emotional pain as betrayal, death and fate play their part in a tale full of suspense.

Ratings and reviews

5.0

2 reviews

Nico Sibanda

June 9, 2021

It is good and useful

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and computers

You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

Report illegal content