Middlemarch
Eliot’s epic of 19th century provincial social life, set in a fictitious Midlands town in the years 1830-32, has several interlocking storylines blended effortlessly together to form a fully coherent narrative. Its main themes are the status of women, social expectations and hypocrisy, religion, political reform and education. It has often been called the greatest novel in the English language.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Middlemarch
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In a 19th-century English town, a serious young woman marries a much older scholar she hopes to help. A bright country doctor arrives with new ideas. The novel watches their marriages, their work, and their compromises.
Middlemarch is around 800 pages and uses Victorian sentence length, but George Eliot's prose is widely admired and rewarding. Most readers find the first 100 pages slowest, then settle in. It is considered by some critics the greatest novel in English.
Yes. Middlemarch was published in eight installments from 1871 to 1872 and is in the public domain. Free editions are available legally through Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, and similar archives.
Middlemarch was written by George Eliot, published in 1800 by Dent.
Middlemarch is 795 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Middlemarch takes most readers 12 to 17 hours to finish.
Middlemarch is a standalone novel by George Eliot, not part of a series.
Middlemarch is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.