George Eliot
George Eliot`s masterpiece, portraying every level of society in a provincial English town, tells the story of the romantic idealist Dorothea Brooke, her misguided marriage, and the love affair that ultimately brings meaning to her life. A parallel plot involves the plight of Lydgate, the equally idealistic doctor who arrives in Middlemarch hoping to bring advanced medical techniques to the village poor but becomes infatuated with a spoiled and materialistic young woman. The novel explores the idea that the search for one`s true function in life may be warped or frustrated by one`s environment--and also how those obstacles may ultimately be overcome or transcended. It is celebrated for its solid Victorian virtues of realism and moral fervor; it is also a grand panorama of personality types, a fascinating and detailed look at English life in 1832, and an intensely readable and gripping story.

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