Middlemarch - George Eliot

As you might know, I usually read fantasy, but I make the odd departure to classics and period romances from time to time. I wont deny that I found Middlemarch quite hard going, it is the only George Eliot book I have read. More importantly though is the fact that I loved it. The first thing I found striking about this book, particularly since it has a romantic theme was the number of main characters involved in it. There are four main couples, but that doesn't even go near all the people who are important to other aspects of the plot. You might think that having this number of main characters might be detrimental to the book, with each of them ...

"Middlemarch" is often acclaimed as George Eliot's greatest piece of literature, and having now read most of her novels, I am inclined to agree with this assesment. Middlemarch itself is a small town somewhere in England, and the book traces the interweaving lives of various inhabitants. The plot itself is quite subtle and complex, as various relationships alter, and various truths come to light. Trying to give a full account of the plot would take, oh, about a full length novel, and it would spoil a few of the twsits and turns. So, here's a few tempters to be going along with. Dorothea is a bright, idealistic young gentlewoman who marries an ...