Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter on a drunken impulse at a local fair. Eighteeen years later his temperament again thwarts his attempts to make amends. Henchard is a modern-day tragic hero, but his story is also a journey towards love. This edition is the only critically established text of the novel and Pamela Dalziel's new introduction considers Hardy's complex response to the modern world in his characterization.