The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. His major novels are mainly set in rural Wessex, a fictional place. The Mayor of Casterbridge is one of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of Michael Henchard who, under the spell of alcohol and rage, sells his wife and child at a fair. A lot many years pass by and Henchard becomes the mayor of Casterbridge, but he is always haunted by his past. And when his wife and child return, his public reputation starts declining.