George Eliot’s influential novel Middlemarch is, according to its subtitle, a “study of provincial life.”

At its center are the beautiful and inquisitive Dorothea Brooke and the ambitious young doctor Tertius Lydgate, who both have to abandon their idealist views when faced with the reality of daily life. In the novel, Eliot depicts small-town life in the 1830s with its class system, rivalries, and social restrictions in minute detail. She beautifully sketches even minor characters, letting the reader into their thoughts and struggles. Eventually, the individual storylines converge into an overall picture that captures and represents the multifaceted reality of small-town life. Middlemarch is not only the author’s most impressive work, but also a seminal contribution to the 19th-century English novel.

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