The Mayor of Casterbridge

This Hardy tragic novel, published in 1886, was set in the first half of the 19th Century. Not caring about anything or anyone else in the world, drunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby girl Eliza-Jane to a sailor. After recovering from his hangover, he repents and desperately searches for his family to no avail. He gives up alcohol, becomes a successful merchant farmer and is elected Mayor of Casterbridge. The former Mrs. Henchard returns with daughter Eliza-Jane years later when the girl is 18. The story takes several u-turns until Henchard's pride gets the best of him, he returns to alcohol and he's ruined emotionally and publicly...