In 'Middlemarch', George Eliot fashions a concept of life and society free of the dogma of the past yet able to confront the scepticism of the age.

This novel was George Eliot's favourite. It concerns a bitter weaver who takes on a young orphan girl and gradually transforms his own life and that of the girl. The novel combines humour, rich symbolism and pointed social criticism to create an unsentimental portrait of rural English life.

Drawing on George Eliot's own childhood experiences to craft an unforgettable story of first love, sibling rivalry and regret, The Mill on the Floss is edited with an introduction and notes by A.S. Byatt, author of Possession, in Penguin Classics. Brought up at Dorlcote Mill, Maggie Tulliver worships her brother Tom and is desperate to win the approval of her parents, but her passionate, wayward nature and her fierce intelligence bring her into constant conflict with her family. As she reaches adulthood, the clash between their expectations and her desires is painfully played out as she finds...

Wrongly accused of theft and exiled from a religious community many years before, the embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe, living only for work and his precious hoard of money. But when his money is stolen and an orphaned child finds her way into his house, Silas is given the chance to transform his life.

From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers--featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische

It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a type cover showcasing a gorgeously illustrated letter of the alphabet by superstar type designer Jessica Hische, whose work has appeared everywhere from Tiffany & Co. to Wes Anderson's film Moonrise Kingdom to Penguin's own bestsellers Committed and Rules of Civility. A collaboration...

First published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1859, "The Lifted Veil" is now one of George Eliot's most widely read and critically discussed short stories. A dark fantasy drawing on contemporary scientific interest in the physiology of the brain, mesmerism, phrenology, and experiments in revification, it is Eliot's anatomy of her own moral philosophy. Narrated by an egocentric, morbid young clairvoyant man, the story also explores fiction's ability to offer insight into the self, as well as being a remarkable portrait of an artist whose visionary powers merely blight his life.
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Packed full of analysis and interpretation, historical background, discussions and commentaries, 'York Notes' will help you get right to the heart of the text you're studying, whether it's poetry, a play or a novel.

In Middlemarch, in the heart of England, Dorothea wants to change the world and Dr Lydgate hopes to make great scientific discoveries. But after disastrous marriages, they both lose control of their lives. Can they ever achieve their dreams? Middlemarch is generally considered to be one of the greatest novels in the English language.

A tale of quiet lives in an early 19th-century English provincial town which engages the reader at every level, from the author's chronicle of everyday details to the most exacting philosophical and moral reflection.