Other editions of book Adam Bede

It may seem like an old tale: the beautiful village girl, her faithful admirer, a country squire's seduction. But seen through the eyes of any of its players, the old tale becomes one of fresh heartbreak, innocent hopes, best intentions gone awry, and better selves lost and restored. George Eliot's first novel shows all her humane intelligence and intimate knowledge of the richness and complexity of ordinary life.

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A classic tale from George Eliot, author of Middlemarch... Mary Ann Evans known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist, 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. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances. An additional factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived for over 20 years. A young carpenter living in the fiction community of Hayslope, Adam Bede falls desperately in love with a local beauty, Hetty Sorrel. When two newcomers arrive in town—a gallant young captain and Hetty’s gentle cousin Dinah—the affections and desires of these young people are pitted against the pressures of their social situations. Adam Bede is the first novel written by author George Eliot and was met with critical acclaim upon publication in 1859. Generally believed to be one of the best examples of realism in English literature, the novel has never been out of print.

Outstanding author, critic and editor, Mary Ann Evans, or George Eliot (1819 – 1880), as she was known by her pen name, wrote Adam Bede at the age of 40. It had become an instant bestseller, even though it was the first novel that the English author ever wrote. Drawn to pastoral landscape and intrigues, and writing under a male name to ensure her works are taken seriously in a biased literary world, Eliot managed to achieve extraordinary recognition as one of the leading writers of the Victorian Era.Although it is as deeply embedded in Eliot’s now characteristic pastoral writing style, Adam Bede was something completely new for the era it was written in. The first in a line of well-received novels written by Eliot – including The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner and Daniel Deronda, Adam Bede is set in provincial England, and well-known for its emphasis on realism and the psychological growth of Eliot’s characters.Fraught with multiple themes revolving around morality and redemption through suffering, the story of the novel is relatively simple. It revolves around a young man by the name of Adam Bede, whose strength and hard work as a carpenter was only matched by his extreme infatuation with young Hetty Sorell. Hetty, the vain dairymaid, however, is soon seduced by the local squire, and a series of complicated intrigues ensues that further adds to the drama of the apparently quiet village of Hayslope.Although the story is set in 1799, and was written just over half a century later, it certainly doesn’t lack in action or complexity. The characters are vivid, dynamic portrayals that seem to come alive as you read through the story, and surprise even the keenest of readers with their unexpected pursuits.