The Mayor of Casterbridge

Tragic heroes bring about their own destruction. Michael Henchard in Hardy's 1886 classic does so in spades. The novel starts with a bang: Henchard, drunk, sells his wife and baby daughter at a fair and, when sober, cannot find them. He moves to Casterbridge, where, flash-forward 18 years, he has become a successful businessman and mayor. Enter again his wife and daughter, and Henchard doesn't know quite what to do with them. Meanwhile his business is failing. Bad decisions continue, yet listeners can't help liking Henchard, despite his flaws. What adds to these feelings is the able reading by Pamela Garelick, who has a host of memorable characters firmly in her grasp. She enjoys her story, and so will her audience. T.H. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Novelist Thomas Hardy creates one of the most fully realized characters of literature in the figure of Michael Henchard, the mayor of Casterbridge. "Selling" his wife and child while intoxicated at a county fair, Henchard sets in motion a series of events depicting the turns of fate that fill these lives with bittersweet irony. Showing extraordinary vocal range and emotional truth to dozens of complex characters is acclaimed British actress Jenny Sterlin. Listeners are treated to heartbreaking reversals of fate and accents portrayed with talent and professionalism. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

In a drunken rage Michael Henchard sells his wife and son. Tragedy ensues. Tony Britton's performance is brilliant. He manages to keep all the characters straight while giving them their own voices. In audio format the characters and settings come alive, and the tidbits of humor sprinkled throughout are delightful. For those who have read the book or watched the "Masterpiece Theater" version, this is a totally different experience and shouldn't be passed over. Britton's presentation delivers a fresh interpretation. S.S.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

The delicate elements inherent in a long novel can easily be lost in adaptation: the comfort of a slowly unfolding tale, the careful pace of the narrative. Yet in the hands of BBC Radio Drama, Hardy's classic becomes even more of a treasure. Michael Henchard, the Mayor of Casterbridge, misguidedly attempts redemption when his wife and daughter return 19 years after he's betrayed them. The tale's drama touches the soul, and the production is sublime--the sound effects of early England's countryside are crafted with amazing subtlety; the acting and pace embrace the listener. It's almost decadent to exist in this world for four hours. S.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Thomas Hardy's marvelous novel has all the elements of fine Shakespearean tragedy: a heroic figure who reaches a pinnacle of power, esteem and self-satisfaction, only to lose it all because of his folly and bad luck. Narrator John Rowe is superior in recounting the life of Michael Henchard. He captures the actual and the emotional rise and fall of Henchard perfectly and is even more compelling in reading the part of Henchard's friend, then enemy, Donald Farfrae. He's equally skilled with the roles of the two most important female characters and with the uneducated townsfolk who make up a kind of Greek chorus. All told, this is a must-listen audiobook: great story, great writing, great narrating. T. H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

What can anyone say of Flo Gibson reading Thomas Hardy but "Bravo!" She is a master of accents, from Scots to the West Country Hardy knew so well. As is true of most of Gibson's work, the narrative proceeds at an efficient, comfortable clip. Something of her maternal calm frames the story, as in the opening paragraphs, when the protagonists are seen making their way along a country road, ". . . plainly, but not ill-clad. . . ." Hardy's sense of the tragic foreshadows these early descriptions, and Gibson's firm voice is its counterpoint. An excellent treatment of a brilliant novel. V.H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

G. K. Chesterton noted that in Hardy's dour novels of the English midland Hardy became a sort of village atheist, brooding and blaspheming over the village idiot. Perhaps, but the broody heaths of Dorset were never more powerfully, more oppressively portrayed. Can one, therefore, claim to enjoy a reading of a Hardy novel? One can if the reader is as superb as Nigel Anthony, who in tone and style nicely communicates all the vividness, beauty and depth, as well as the fatalistic gloom, for which Hardy is justly esteemed. Earthy enough in his spot-on characterizations, he lacks only a certain virility that this reviewer finds an essential wellspring of Hardy's irony. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Thomas Hardy's tragic stories seem to feature men and women who fall in love with the wrong person. THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE is no exception. When Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to an itinerant seaman in a fit of drunken bravado, he sets in motion a series of events that play out over the next 20 years. Anton Lesser's narration is noteworthy. He admirably transforms Hardy's written text into an oral one. Not only does he skillfully convey a broad range of character qualities, he also adroitly reproduces the broad country accents used by many of Hardy's characters--making them understandable without sacrificing any of their authenticity. L.X. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine