Classic
Middlemarch
by George Eliot
Summary
In a provincial English town on the eve of the 1832 Reform Act, the idealistic Dorothea Brooke marries a dry, aging scholar in hopes of a life of purpose, while the ambitious young doctor Tertius Lydgate makes an equally disastrous match of his own. Eliot weaves their disappointments together with the fortunes of tradesmen, clergy, and landowners into a complete portrait of a community in slow transition. The novel's psychological range and moral intelligence lead many critics to call it the greatest English novel.
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Historical Context & Significance
Eliot published the novel in eight parts through 1871 and 1872, at the height of her fame. Virginia Woolf famously described it as one of the few English novels written for grown up people.