Middlemarch

Publisher Marketing: Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, . Her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes. During the following year Eliot resumed work, fusing together several stories into a coherent whole, and during 1871-72 the novel appeared in serial form. The first one-volume edition was published in 1874, and attracted large sales. The novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during the period 1830-32. It has multiple plots with a large cast of characters, and in addition to its distinct though interlocking narratives it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871-72), and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight. Review Citations: Library Journal 06/01/2003 pg. 176 (EAN 9781593080235, Paperback) - *Starred Review Library Journal 05/15/1994 pg. 104 (EAN 9780679601180, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 282 (EAN 9780679405672, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 198 (EAN 9780679405672, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2014 pg. 254 (EAN 9780679405672, Hardcover) Newsweek 03/10/2008 pg. 16 (EAN 9780395051054, Paperback) Booklist Editors Choice/Media 01/01/2012 pg. 16 (EAN 9781843794394, Compact Disc) Contributor Bio:  Eliot, George George Eliot was the pseudonym for Mary Anne Evans, one of the leading writers of the Victorian era, who published seven major novels and several translations during her career. She started her career as a sub-editor for the left-wing journal The Westminster Review, contributing politically charged essays and reviews before turning her attention to novels. Among Eliot's best-known works are Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda, in which she explores aspects of human psychology, focusing on the rural outsider and the politics of small-town life. Eliot died in 1880. Contributor Bio:  Struik, Alex Lao Tzu was a philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching. His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of philosophical Taoism. He is also revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoist philosophy, which often refers to Lao Tzu as Taishang Laojun, or "One of the Three Pure Ones." According to Chinese traditions, Lao Tzu lived in the 6th century BC. Historians variously contend that Lao Tzu is a synthesis of multiple historical figures, that he is a mythical figure, or that he actually lived in the 5th-4th century BC, concurrent with the Hundred Schools of Thought and Warring States Period.