The Mill on the Floss

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1860)

Maggie Tulliver, passionate, intelligent, and trapped by the narrow expectations of provincial English life, struggles between duty to her family and her own desires. Eliot's most autobiographical and emotionally powerful novel.

Historical Significance:
Published in 1860, The Mill on the Floss drew heavily on George Eliot's (Mary Ann Evans') own childhood in rural Warwickshire and her painful estrangement from her brother Isaac after she began living with the married George Henry Lewes. Maggie Tulliver's hunger for knowledge in a world that sees education as wasted on women, and her tormented relationship with her beloved brother Tom, mirror Eliot's own experiences. The novel's devastating flood ending remains one of the most debated conclusions in English fiction.

This public domain classic was originally published in 1860. Free to read and share.