Cover of The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy1886Literary fiction

The Mayor of Casterbridge

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy has 116,305 words, about 7 h 45 min of reading.

words
116,305
Reading time
7 h 45 min
Listening time
12 h 30 min

Long Longer than 63% of the other 735 books here.

Compare with another bookAll books by Thomas Hardy

At a glance

1886 novel by Thomas Hardy.

Author
Thomas Hardy1840–1928
First published
1886
Original language
English
Readers
Adult
Length
Long80,000 to 120,000 words
Readers' rating
3.7 out of 5from 93 ratings on Hardcover

How long it takes to read

About 7 h 45 min at 250 words a minute, or 12 h 30 min as an audiobook.

Reading speedWhole bookAt 30 minutes a day
Careful200 words a minute9 h 42 min20 days
Average250 words a minute7 h 45 min16 days
Fast300 words a minute6 h 28 min13 days

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Read or listen

The Mayor of Casterbridge is in the public domain: these editions are free to download, read and share.

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Compared with other books

The books closest in length, and a few well-known ones for scale.

  1. 1War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy587,287Compare
  2. 2The Fellowship of the RingJ. R. R. Tolkien177,227Compare
  3. 3Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen121,970Compare
  4. 4Lady Chatterley's LoverD. H. Lawrence117,630Compare
  5. 5Going PostalTerry Pratchett116,380Compare
  6. 6The Mayor of CasterbridgeThomas Hardy116,305
  7. 7Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert115,725Compare
  8. 8The Reign of GreedJosé Rizal115,679Compare
  9. 9Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneJ. K. Rowling76,944Compare
  10. 10The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald47,094Compare

Counted from the text

Automated estimates from the selected Project Gutenberg text; it may include a preface or notes.

Words in the text
116,379
Dialogue
30%of the words are inside quotation marks
Average sentence
17 words
Vocabulary
455 different words in every 1,000Distinct words in the sampled text; this does not measure writing quality.

Where the numbers come from

The word count comes from the sources below.

The word count is Standard Ebooks’ count of its edition; the figures under “Counted from the text” are Musael’s own count of the Project Gutenberg text.

Checked on 2026-10-27. Page counts change from edition to edition. Cover from Open Library; the edition shown may differ.

Questions

How many words is The Mayor of Casterbridge?

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy has 116,305 words.

How long does it take to read The Mayor of Casterbridge?

About 7 h 45 min at 250 words a minute, or 12 h 30 min as an audiobook.

How many days to read The Mayor of Casterbridge at 30 minutes a day?

About 16 days at an average reading speed.

Who wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge?

The Mayor of Casterbridge was written by Thomas Hardy and first published in 1886.

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