Showing results by author "George Eliot" in All Categories

Adam Bede (1859), George Eliot's first full-length novel, marked the emergence of an artist to rank with Scott and Dickens. Set in the English Midlands of farmers and village craftsmen at the turn of the 18th century, the book relates a story of seduction issuing in 'the inward suffering which is the worst form of Nemesis'. But it is also a rich and pioneering record - drawing on intimate knowledge and affectionate memory - of a rural world that we have lost.

Romola is the fourth novel from the great Victorian novelist George Eliot and her first historical novel. Published in 1862 - 63, it is set in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century and events during the Italian Renaissance, and includes in its plot several notable figures from Florentine history. The story is of a girl's devotion to her blind father, her marriage to and betrayal by a young Greek and ultimate life of self-sacrifice.

Penguin Classics presents George Eliot's Daniel Deronda, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actress Eleanor Bron. 'What can I do? ... I must get up in the morning and do what every one else does. It is all like a dance...

George Eliot's The Lifted Veil was first published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1859 and has now become one of the author's most widely read and critically discussed stories. Told from the point of view of a young, egocentric, and morbid clairvoyant man, Latimer, it is a dark fantasy portrait of an artist whose visionary powers merely blight his life. The story reflected the scientific interest of the time in the physiology of the brain, mesmerism, phrenology, and experiments in revivification.

Penguin Classics presents George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss, adapted for audio and now available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actress Irene Sutcliffe. If life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie? Tragic and moving, The Mill on...

"Impressions of Theophrastus Such" is a work of fiction by George Eliot, first published in 1879. It was Eliot's last published writing and her most experimental, taking the form of a series of literary essays by an imaginary minor scholar whose eccentric character is revealed through his work.

First published in 1861 it tells the tale of the lonely weaver Silas Marner who, after suffering betrayal and rejection, leaves his community to become a recluse obsessed only with accumulating money. One day Silas's money is stolen by Dunstan Cass, a dissolute son of Squire Cass, the town's leading landowner. The loss of his gold drives Silas into a deep gloom, until one day a little golden-haired orphan girl wanders into his home to change his life forever.

Middlemarch (Book 1: Miss Brooke), A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by English author George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midlands town, from 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters. Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education.

The Essential Classics: Volume 4 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Fenella Woolgar, Jonathan Keeble, Lucy Scott, David Rintoul, and Aidan Kelly. Spanning British, Russian, and Irish literature, this collection includes stories of modern Irish life in Dubliners, love and loss on an epic scale in War & Peace, as well as Dickens' tale of heroism in Nichols Nickleby, and many more.

The Ultimate Classics Collection: Volume One is a continent-hopping, century-spanning collection of 10 of the greatest classic novels ever written, from British, Irish, American, and German authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Fry, Jonathan Keeble, David Rintoul, and many more.

Young, ardent Dorothea Brooke defies her sister by wedding the much older Reverend Edward Casaubon, blindly hoping to assist in his scholarly pursuits. Tertius Lydgate, a progressive doctor, new and unwelcome in provincial Middlemarch, is charmed into marriage with the selfish and shallow Rosamond Vincy, a disastrous mismatch of his own. Soon blatant stubbornness, unruly jealousy, blind idealism, and calculated blackmail threaten to upend the Midlands village and lay waste to happy endings.

Explore the intricate dynamics of society and personal ambition through the lens of provincial life, as suggested by this title. The tensions between individual aspirations and societal expectations drive compelling narratives that resonate across generations. Our podcast offers a rotating collection of complete audiobooks, each week presenting a new title that captures the essence of such societal and personal struggles. From different time periods and varied perspectives, this series invites listeners to gain insight and broaden their understanding of human motivations and relationships. New...

Gwendolen Harleth gambles her happiness when she marries a sadistic aristocrat for his money. Beautiful, neurotic, and self-centered, Gwendolen is trapped in an increasingly destructive relationship, and only her chance encounter with the idealistic Deronda seems to offer the hope of a brighter future. Deronda is searching for a vocation, and in embracing the Jewish cause he finds one that is both visionary and life-changing.

Framed for a theft he didn’t commit and expelled from the church which has been his life, Silas Marner, the weaver, exiles himself to the remote rural village of Raveloe to bury himself in making money with his loom. The arrival of a golden-haired orphan toddler at his door, however, drags the recluse back into the world and away from his obsession with his hoard.

One of the masterpieces of English fiction, Daniel Deronda tells the intertwined stories of two characters as they each come to discover the truth of their natures. Gwendolen Harleth is the beautiful, high-spirited daughter of an impoverished upper-class family. Daniel Deronda, the adopted son of an aristocratic Englishman, is searching for his path in life.

Bright, willful Maggie Tulliver longs for acceptance from Tom, her obstinately responsible brother whom she cherishes above all. As their father falls ill and loses Dorlcote Mill in a lawsuit, Maggie and Tom are forced down two divergent paths in life, each dictated by familial and societal expectations. Wasting away in the Tullivers' home, Maggie is soon inspired to follow her heart and lead a life of passion and impulse, which results in her brother renouncing her. As the siblings drift apart, only tragedy along the River Floss can bring them together again.

The stories are all set in New York City and concern themselves with various facets of life in Gilded Age New York City—from the highest of high society to the commonest pensioner in less fashionable neighborhoods in boarding houses. The stories are about manners and mores; about the people of various strata of society relating to each other and the world around them.

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans – an ironic ‘deception’ given that "Adam Bede", her first novel, is written unashamedly from a feminist standpoint. The story centres on a pastoral love triangle. Two young men, carpenter Adam Bede and squire Captain Arthur Donnithorne, are both in love with the mercurial Hetty Sorrel. There’s a further love interest between Adam and beautiful lay preacher Dinah Morris. The setting is a country village in the north of England in the last years of the eighteenth century.

In The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot weaves a poignant and powerful tale of love, family, and the complexities of fate. Set in the small English town of St. Ogg’s, the novel follows siblings Tom and Maggie Tulliver as they navigate the turbulent waters of growing up. From their idyllic childhood by the river to the adult lives shaped by societal expectations, their bond is both a source of comfort and conflict. Maggie, intelligent and passionate, is torn between her desire for intellectual freedom and the oppressive social norms of her time.

Step into the world of George Eliots timeless Victorian classic, published in 1876, where two captivating narratives intertwine. The first follows the journey of Gwendolen, a striking young beauty who evolves from a self-absorbed figure into a thoughtful woman with a broadened perspective on life. The second narrative centers on Daniel Deronda, the adopted son of an English aristocrat, whose life takes a transformative turn when he encounters the ailing Jewish philosopher Mordecai and his compassionate sister, Mirah. Join us as we explore themes of identity, culture, and the human experience ...