Written by George Eliot - Audio book performed by Kate Reading - Unabridged Fiction - 4 MP3 COMPACT DISCS - 32 hours

Publisher, Tantor Media (February 2006)

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Middlemarch is a recognized masterpiece that explores the complex social world of 19th century England. It is concerned with the lives of several ordinary people, albeit ones with high social standing. The novel explores the very fabric of Victorian society in the 1800s, showing how various human passions---heroism, egotism, love, and lust---interrelate within this society.

The novel is set in the small town of Middlemarch and follows the inter-related lives of several characters. At the heart of the book is Dorothea, a kind-hearted and honest woman, longs to find some way to improve the world. She marries an older academic, Casaubon, against the advice of her friends and family. Casaubon tries to assert his influence over Dorthea, but she refuses to succumb to Casaubon's will. Casaubon soon dies of a heart attack, and Dorothea marries his cousin, Will. But, in last attempt to control Dorothea's life, Casaubon's will states that if Dorothea marries Will, she will lose her claim to Casaubon's estate.

Other unforgettable characters in Middlemarch include the young doctor, Lydgate, who come to the town to start his own practice. He soon falls in love with Rosamund, a woman who has spent her life in Middlemarch, and they eventually marry. Fred Vincey, used to a lavish lifestyle but also a gambler, falls into debt as he waits to inherit money from a rich neighbor. He drifts toward the clergy, and longs to marry Mary Garth. But until he proves himself worthy, Mary will have nothing to do with him.

About the Performer: The audiography of Kate Reading spans a range of diverse subject matter, from classics to biography, Patricia Cornwell's entire Kay Scarpetta mystery series, and--in duet with her husband, Michael Kramer--a dozen of Robert Jordan's fantasy titles. Kate has won seven AudioFile Earphones Awards, including one for Cornwell's The Last Precinct.

About the Author: George Eliot is the masculine pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819–1880), one of Victorian England's leading novelists. Her first stories appeared in Blackwood's magazine, followed by such novels as The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, and Middlemarch. Her work was popular with critics and the public alike, and in later years her novels were especially valued for their detailed portrayals of rural English life.