23 h 49 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 585 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 585 pagesAbout this book
What if the brother you love most cannot understand the person you long to become?
At Dorlcote Mill beside the River Floss, Maggie Tulliver grows up hungry for learning, love, and her brother Tom’s approval. Clever and impulsive, she feels every scolding deeply. Tom trusts rules and practical work. Their bond shapes a childhood full of small joys and sharp hurts.
In George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, family pride puts a household at risk, while money and reputation shape the judgments of St Ogg’s. As Maggie grows, her wish to live fully presses against duty and convention. Loving her family does not make choosing her own path any easier.
What you’ll discover
- A complicated sibling bond Follow Maggie and Tom through the tenderness, pride, and misunderstanding that bind them together.
- Childhood taken seriously Enter a world where a child’s shame and longing carry the full weight of feeling.
- A woman hungry for more Meet Maggie, whose desire for learning and emotional freedom strains against her family’s expectations.
- Family life with sharp edges Discover the dry humour of watchful aunts, household pride, and firmly held opinions.
- Love measured against duty Explore the painful space between belonging to others and remaining true to yourself.
Who will love it
For readers who love rich family stories with deep feeling for character, and anyone who has loved a sibling and quarrelled with one. Maggie’s desire for love and learning brings family bonds, duty and social judgment into focus.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A girl and a boy at the mill
- Childhood hurts are real hurts
- The Dodsons and the Tullivers
- School, a friendship, and a father's feud
- Ruin comes to the mill
- What the book is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Maggie TulliverA clever, passionate, impulsive girl who longs for love, learning and her brother's approval in a world that expects her to be quiet.
- Tom TulliverMaggie's older brother, a practical, serious and proud young man who trusts firm rules and wants to restore his family's good name.
- Mr TulliverThe miller at Dorlcote Mill, a warm, stubborn man whose pride and love of going to law put his family at risk.
- Mrs TulliverMaggie and Tom's mother, born a Dodson, anxious about respectability and often baffled by her unruly daughter.
- Philip WakemA gifted, sensitive young man, the son of a lawyer, who becomes Maggie's friend despite the quarrel between the families.
- Lucy DeaneMaggie's pretty, gentle cousin, who is easily loved and offers a contrast with Maggie's stormy nature.
- Mrs GleggOne of Mrs Tulliver's sisters, a stern and thrifty aunt who judges the family by the strict standards of the Dodsons.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 23 h 49 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 585 pages: 17,95 USD when you start free, 23,95 USD on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 585 pages: 24,95 USD when you start free, 30,95 USD on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot · 1860
At Dorlcote Mill, Maggie reaches for love, learning and a life of her own as family duty pulls her another way.
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In short
The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It came out in 1860, after her first success with Adam Bede.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A girl and a boy at the mill
The story opens at Dorlcote Mill, where Mr Tulliver runs the family business beside the Floss. His wife, Mrs Tulliver, was born a Dodson, and she is proud of her tidy household and her respectable sisters. Their two children could hardly be more different. Tom is a sturdy, practical boy who likes rules, tasks and clear answers.
Maggie is younger, dark haired, quick and restless. She reads, she dreams, and she feels everything at full strength. Her mother despairs of her untidy hair and her wild ways. Her father, though, sees her sharp mind and is proud of it, even when he fears that cleverness in a girl will bring her trouble.
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What is The Mill on the Floss about?
It follows Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister who grow up at Dorlcote Mill. It shows their childhood bond, their family's money troubles, and the clash between Maggie's passionate nature and the rules of her community.
Who is George Eliot?
George Eliot is the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, a Victorian novelist. She used a male name for her fiction, partly so her work would be judged seriously. She also wrote Middlemarch and Silas Marner.
Is The Mill on the Floss based on a true story?
No, the plot is invented, and the town of St Ogg's is fictional. Eliot published it in 1860 and drew on her own childhood memories and her close relationship with her brother for its feeling.
The author
George Eliot
1819–1880 · English novelist
George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, an English novelist, essayist, poet and journalist. She was born in Warwickshire in 1819 and later lived in London, where she died in 1880. Her novels include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860) and Middlemarch (1871–1872).
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