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The Mayor of Casterbridge
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Tess Durbeyfield has become one of the most famous female protagonists in 19th-century British literature. Betrayed by the two men in her life - Alec D’Urberville, her seducer/rapist and father of her fated child; and Angel, her intellectual and pious husband - Tess takes justice, and her own destiny, into her delicate hands. In telling her desperate and passionate story, Hardy brings Tess to life with an extraordinary vividness that makes her live in the heart of the reader long after the novel is concluded.
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4 out of 5 stars 94
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,216
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,110
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5 out of 5 stars
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- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 973
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 889
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Story4 out of 5 stars 864
Set on Egdon Heath, a fictional barren moor in Wessex, Eustacia Vye longs for the excitement of city life but is cut off from the world in her grandfather's lonely cottage. Clym Yeobright who has returned to the area to become a schoolmaster seems to offer everything she dreams of: passion, excitement and the opportunity to escape. However, Clym's ambitions are quite different, and marriage only increases Eustacia's destructive restlessness, drawing others into a tangled web of deceit and unhappiness.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Always Hardy
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Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,805
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,683
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,683
Tess Durbeyfield has become one of the most famous female protagonists in 19th-century British literature. Betrayed by the two men in her life - Alec D’Urberville, her seducer/rapist and father of her fated child; and Angel, her intellectual and pious husband - Tess takes justice, and her own destiny, into her delicate hands. In telling her desperate and passionate story, Hardy brings Tess to life with an extraordinary vividness that makes her live in the heart of the reader long after the novel is concluded.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Davina Porter Does It Again!
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- Narrated by: Samuel West
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Publisher's Summary
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy is a tragic novel set in the fictional town of Casterbridge.
Michael Henchard, a young hay trusser, overindulges in rum-laced furmity and quarrels with his wife, Susan. Spurred by alcohol, he decides to auction off his wife and baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, to a sailor, Mr. Newson, for five guineas. Once sober the next day, he is too late to recover his family, particularly since his reluctance to reveal his own bad conduct keeps him from conducting an effective search. When he realizes that his wife and daughter are gone, probably for good, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far (21).
Nineteen years later, Henchard, now a successful grain merchant, is the eponymous Mayor of Casterbridge, known for his staunch sobriety. He is well respected for his financial acumen and his work ethic, but he is not well liked. Impulsive, selfish behavior and a violent temper are still part of his character, as are dishonesty and secretive activity.
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