Middlemarch

by George Eliot · 1800

Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life, is an 1871‑1872 novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans). Published in eight monthly instalments and later in four volumes, it is set in the fictional Midlands town of Middlemarch between 1829 and 1832. The novel interweaves the lives of Dorothea Brooke, Dr Tertius Lydgate and a host of other characters, exploring themes such as the status of women, marriage, idealism, self‑interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, education, and the impact of the Reform Act 1832. Written in a realist style, it portrays provincial English society on the brink of modern change and is widely regarded as Eliot’s masterpiece and one of the greatest English novels.