George Eliot

As Maggie Tulliver approaches maturity she enters into conflict with family and community over her desire to be more than just average. Eliot's exploration of Maggie's dilemma makes this novel as relevant today as it was in the 19th century. This edition contains a new chronology, and updated further reading.

Dorothea Brooke is a beautiful and idealistic young woman set on filling her life with good deeds. She pursues the pompous Edward Casuabon, convinced that he embodies these principles, and becomes trapped in an unhappy marriage. Then there is Tertius Lydgate, an anguished progressive whose determination to bring modern medicine to the provinces is muddied by unrequited love. They, and a multitude of other brilliantly drawn characters, reside in the...

Margaret Reynold's introduction sets out the social background to 'Adam Bede', discusses the genesis of the novel, explores changing attitudes towards it and reassesses critical perceptions of the major characters.

The York Notes series covers major works from medieval to modern English literature, and classic and contemporary works from Europe, America, the Commonwealth and the Third World.

Silas Marner keeps his gold in a hole under the floorboards. Every day he works hard as a weaver, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away?