Middlemarch

George Eliot

Nov 2016 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

A masterful tale of a small town in the English midlands, and the hopes, regrets, and unrealized dreams of those who make it their home.

In Middlemarch, George Eliot created a landmark of English literature as she incisively portrayed the drama and folly found in even the most simple and bucolic of precincts.
 
Intertwined are the lives and stories of unforgettable characters such as Dorothea Brooke, whose desire for intellectual fulfillment leads her to marry the Reverend Edward Casaubon, who coldly refuses to let her follow her ambitions; Tertius Lydgate, a young doctor whose wife, Rosamond, sees him as a stepping stone to a greater place in society; Mr. Bulstrode, the wealthy town financier whose past corruptions return to plague him; and a menagerie of players large and small who find themselves both driven by their own motivations and held in stagnation by the will of others.
 
As complex in theme as it is heart-wrenching and engaging, Middlemarch stands as a true classic of Victorian-era storytelling.
 
This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Ratings and reviews

Though a bit tedious in the opening chapters, once you begin to care for some the myriad of characters depicted in the book, their stories become engaging and the reading itself, enjoyable. The conclusion, while predictable, is nonetheless satisfactory and left me with a sense of contentment, though with the overwhelming impression that the quality of the writing itself exceeds that of the story, which is why I felt compelled to finish reading it.

About the author

George Eliot (1819–1880) was the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, one of the defining authors of the Victorian era, who penned influential works such as Adam Bede, Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, and Silas Marner. Eliot began her career by writing for local newspapers, eventually running the Westminster Review. During her time there, she decided to become a novelist and chose a masculine pen name in order to avoid the rampant sexism of the day. Her first novel, Adam Bede, was an instant success. Eliot’s realist philosophy and deep characterizations were defining features of her work, and her classic novels have earned her praise as one of the English language’s top authors.