Middlemarch

Penguin Classics

By: George Eliot, Rosemary Ashton - introduction

Narrated by: Juliet Aubrey

Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Juliet Aubrey, who won the BAFTA for Best Actress for her role as Dorothea in the BBC serial Middlemarch. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Rosemary Ashton.

George Eliot's most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfillment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama, hailed by Virginia Woolf as 'one of the few English novels written for adult people'.

(P) 2019 Penguin Audio

totally engrossing

Where to start?
George Eliot, also known as Mary Ann Evans, has a way with words like no other of her time. We all know the Jane Austen’s, Bronte’s, and Alcott’s of those days, but I don’t believe there was an authoress quite like Ms. Evans. I think a word to best describe her works is “authentic”. Anyone reading could clearly tell she wrote straight from the soul, how else would her words be so concise? She has a true skill of writing exactly what she intends the author to imagine or understand, and I’ve never read a book like it. I could vividly picture each seen, feel each of the protagonist’s thoughts, and empathize with constructs I will never experience in my day. I feel nothing but utter respect and awe for Mary Ann Evans. She, and her writings, are one of a kind. Please give this book a listen!

A good read

I was so happy to add one more classic to my listening library. Very similar to Pride and Prejudice. Knowing the background of the author made this all the more fascinating. A quality read.

Excellent classic

Wonderful story and excellent narration. Although it is long, it didn't feel tiresome. Well done.

Basically- a masterpiece of literature

I can’t imagine having anything new to say about Middlemarch that hasn’t already been said, except that I stumbled onto it. I’d never heard of it before, but previously had listened to Silas Marner and thoroughly enjoyed it. The version with Juliet Aubrey ( I believe that was her name) as narrator could not have been better. I absolutely loved it!

Wow, perhaps the best close in any story.

Wow, perhaps the best close in any story. Profound insights into humanity and the human condition