Middlemarch

First published in 1972 in serial form by Blackwoods, Middlemarch was printed as a book in 1874. Set in and around the eponymous fictional town which is accepted to be based on Coventry, the novel traces the lives of its characters while providing a commentary on wider political and social events centred on the 1832 Reform Act. Two pivotal characters dominate the novel. On one side is Dorothea Brooke who mistakenly marries the older Edward Casaubon and on the other is Will Ladislaw, Casaubon’s nephew and in some respects his antithesis. Around these pivots are a host of other major and minor characters that Eliot uses to explore her themes. Middlemarch has been widely accepted as the greatest realist novel in the English language and some, including Virginia Woolf and Martin Amis, have gone further. Given the many underlying themes, it is also a prime choice for literature courses.