George Eliot 
Middlemarch 

George Eliot’s Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life was first published in 1871-72 in a series of eight volumes. Set in 1829-32 in the fictitious town of Middlemarch, it follows several separate but related stories featuring a large cast of characters. In it, Eliot explores themes of marriage and women’s roles in society, idealism and religion, self-interest and hypocrisy, and political reform and education. Featuring the realism that Eliot is known for, Middlemarch is considered her best work and one of the greatest English language novels.

About the author

George Eliot (1819 – 1880), the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, and translator during the Victorian era. She authored seven novels including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Middlemarch (1871-72), most of which are set in provincial England and are known for their realism and psychological insight.