George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans)

The Mill on the Floss

Maggie Tulliver is an intelligent, passionate and imaginative girl growing up at Dorlcote Mill with her more conventional brother, Tom. Although deeply attached to one another, the siblings frequently clash because Tom values duty, family honour and social respectability, while Maggie longs for affection, intellectual freedom and a fuller emotional life. The collapse of their father’s business places the family under severe financial and social pressure. As Maggie grows older, her relationships with Philip Wakem and Stephen Guest bring her desires into conflict with loyalty to her family and community. George Eliot explores family love, gender expectations, memory, moral responsibility and the painful struggle between individual fulfilment and social duty.