This volume guides students through Eliot's most widely studied novels: The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner and Middlemarch. The first part of the book is based on analysis of extracts grouped by themes including relationships, society and morality. At the end of each chapter, a 'Methods' section offers ideas for independent study. The second part describes Eliot's biographical, cultural and intellectual environment, and gives readings of representative critical writing.