The Mill on the Floss

George Eliot · 1819–1880 · England

Why it matters

Eliot's most autobiographical novel: Maggie Tulliver, too intelligent and too loving for the world that made her. The great English novel of the gifted girl: its flood-borne ending has been argued over ever since.

At a glance

Dense psychological interiority and slow pacing before its abrupt tragic close.