What Is George Eliot's Greatest Novel?

Of course it's a matter of opinion, but the vast majority of readers and critics would say "Middlemarch." Subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life" and published in serial form in 1871-2, this huge novel is generally regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 19th or any other century. Despite its provincial setting, its scope is immense. It covers the political and social upheavals of the period (it is set before the Reform Bill of 1832 extended the vote to the middle classes.) It is also concerned with such universal themes as public versus private duties; women's rights and responsibilities; marriage as an institution; and many others.
While some readers have found "Middlemarch" slow or felt that it tends to moralise too much, all agree on its genius. Virginia Woolf described it as "one of the few novels written for grown-up people" and the influential 20th century critic FR Leavis praised its "luminous intelligence."