Welcome all newcomers and existing residents of Middlemarch! I hope by now you've secured your own copy in whatever format suits you and are ready to begin reading for next week's first discussion on the book, which includes the Prelude and Chapter 1!

I would like to bring your attention to a few special features of this book. First, the subtitle of the novel, "A Study of Provincial Life". Second, the subtitle of each book is different. We begin Book 1 with "Miss Brooke". And third, every single chapter begins with an epigraph-some from Eliot herself but many more from wide and varied sources.

This is a story mainly about two main characters filled with idealism- Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate and how they respond to their varied situations. However, Eliot's scope takes in the whole community of Middlemarch-truly a study of "Provincial Life" and how whole communities are impacted by a change in culture, science, politics, human relations and understanding. Eliot wrote this looking backward, setting the story 40 years in the past, so she could map out real events as they would impact this fictional community.

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George Eliot lived an unconventional literary and personal life and surely some of the feminist concepts that she embodied in her choices are reflected in the way she writes her characters, particularly the women of Middlemarch. She was a keen student of human nature and the intricate relations and ties that govern this community are dissected and probed with humor and insight. I look forward to everyone's comments as we enter this community and learn about it's inhabitants. I have often thought about what makes this book such a classic and surely the ability to return to its pages with new insights and perspective is one of it's enduring pleasures.

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So, are you completely new to George Eliot's writing? Or have you read other work? Are you re-reading Middlemarch? Are you super excited about cracking open 800 pages of this novel? Is there anything else you need to know to get ready for Middlemarch 2024?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Take note of the new link on the sidebar for a Google calendar, if that is easier to track each week's reading. Any other suggestions?

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