The Mill on the Floss (1860) is George Eliot's second novel. Maggie Tulliver, a passionate and intelligent girl growing up at Dorlcote Mill, struggles between her love for her rigid brother Tom, her own desires and the judgment of her small provincial town.
The story
Maggie adores her brother Tom, who is often harsh with her. When their father loses a lawsuit and the mill, he makes Tom swear enmity against the lawyer Wakem, whose crippled son Philip loves Maggie.
As a young woman, Maggie is drawn to Stephen Guest, her cousin's fiancé, and drifts away with him by boat, but turns back. The town condemns her, and only a great flood reunites her with Tom.
An autobiographical novel
Eliot drew on her own childhood in Warwickshire and her close but difficult bond with her brother Isaac, who broke off relations with her when she began living with George Henry Lewes.
The early chapters are among the finest evocations of childhood in English fiction.
St Ogg's
The town of St Ogg's, on the river Floss, is modelled partly on Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, on the river Trent, where the tidal wave called the aegir runs up the river.
The novel was published in three volumes by Blackwood in April 1860 and sold well.
Anecdotes
A pen name
Mary Ann Evans chose the name George Eliot so that her books would be judged seriously and separately from the scandal of her life with Lewes, who was married.
A brother's silence
Isaac Evans did not write to his sister for over twenty years, until her marriage to John Cross in 1880, when he sent his congratulations.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Maggie Tulliver?
The heroine, a passionate girl who struggles against the expectations of her family and town.
How does the novel end?
In a flood, in which Maggie and Tom drown together, reconciled.
Is the novel autobiographical?
Partly: Eliot drew on her childhood and her relationship with her brother Isaac.