Seven Novels

#1 Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

Middlemarch is a huge book, set in the heart of England. It teems with vivid characters and half a dozen marriages which reveal acutely the hearts of people.

Eliot left her childhood faith, becoming something of a freethinker, but she never lost the insights Christianity gives. The wisdom of her Christian heritage often comes through, especially in her exposés of hypocrisy and meanness; and in her development of the self-sacrificing behavior of Mary Garth and of Farebrother.

Dorothea is a woman to admire and Lydgate a failure to regret. Both make bad marriages, she through idealism, and he through a subtle form of self-indulgence. The pain and disgrace of Bulstrode are almost unbearable.

The principle flaw of the book from a Christian point of view is Dorothea’s too-ready acceptance of Ladislaw’s notions on “modern” German religious ideas— most of which have now been debunked. Critics have complained as to how the characters turn out, but in real life aren’t we often also disappointed with the people we love?

The characters of Middlemarch are so rich and credible, and the writing so perfect, that I credit it as the greatest English-language novel ever written.