... The plot of The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy, canoften be confusingand difficult to follow. The pages of this novel are filledwith sex, scandal, ... Wessexvillage of Weydon-Priors. Michael Henchard, a young hay-trusser looking for work,entersthe village with his wife and infant daughter. What follows next, iscertainly a little out ofthe ordinary, ... where an oldwoman isselling furmity, a liquid pudding made of boiled wheat, eggs, sugar, andspices.Henchard consumes too many bowls of furmity spiked with rum.Feeling trapped by hismarriage...