ADAM BEDE

George Eliot drew heavily on her own knowledge of country life in the writing of this book and many of the characters are based on people she knew and loved. Set in the countryside of the English Midlands at the beginning of the 19th century, it relates the passionate story of seduction, crime, remorse and suffering, but it is also enlivened by the humorous rustic aphorist, Mrs. Poyser and the inspirational preacher, Dinah Morris. This was Eliot's first full length novel, here in complete and unabridged Wordsworth paperback. 460pp.