George Eliot's Middlemarch is a sweeping novel set in a provincial English town during the 1830s, following multiple interconnected lives including idealistic Dorothea Brooke's disastrous marriage and Dr. Lydgate's struggles with ambition and debt. Through interwoven stories exploring marriage, politics, reform, and the gap between aspiration and reality, Eliot created what many consider the greatest English novel. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition becomes both psychological masterpiece and social panorama, proving that Eliot understood human complexity like few others and that some novels contain entire societies.

WHY WE PICKED IT: Because Middlemarch is the novel that does everything brilliantly: psychology, social commentary, humor, tragedy, and wisdom about human nature. This deluxe edition reminds us that Dorothea's idealism is both admirable and dangerous, that Eliot's narrator is one of literature's wisest voices, and that every character is rendered with compassion and clear-eyed honesty.

DETAILS: • Author: George Eliot • Publisher: Penguin Classics • Format: Paperback • Publication Date: November 17, 2015 • ISBN: 9780143107729 • Edition: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition • Ships direct from distributor in 3–7 business days