Middlemarch

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon's mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, reforms; betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment. Dorothea Brooke is an outstanding heroine; Middlemarch is filled with characters that are vivid and true, comic and moving. It is one of the greatest novels in the English language.

George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann, or Marian, Evans (1819-1880), was an English Victorian novelist of the first rank. An assistant editor for the Westminster Review from 1851 to 1854, she wrote her first fiction in 1857 and her first full-length novel, Adam Bede, in 1859. In her writing, she was chiefly preoccupied with moral problems, especially the moral development and psychological analysis of her characters. She is known for her sensitive and honest depiction of life and people in works that are acclaimed as classics.

Juliet Stevenson, one of the UK's leading actresses, has worked extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. She received an Olivier Award for her role in Death and the Maiden at the Royal Court, and a number of other awards for her work in the film Truly, Madly, Deeply. Other film credits include The Trial, Drowning by Numbers and Emma. She has recorded Lady Windermere's Fan, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Stories from Shakespeare, To the Lighthouse, Bliss and Other Stories and The Road Home, all for Naxos AudioBooks.