Adam Bede

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.