The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE follows the life of Michael Henchard, the respectable mayor of the English town of Casterbridge who hides a terrible secret. As a young husband and father, Henchard sold his wife and daughter to another man while drunk. After sobering up, he finds his family is lost, but when they return unexpectedly, Henchard's life--and station in society--seem disrupted forever.