I kept putting this aside and getting back to it and I don't think it helped my impression of it much but I found this a not particularly interesting story. It felt like a fairly conventional Victorian moral novel, fine to read but I don't see any hints that Eliot would later become such a storied writer. I did enjoy her development of the minor characters but it meandered for a long time getting to the main action and then wrapped up quite quickly. I think I need to read some of her major works instead.

I have watched a number of adaptations of Eliot's novels but hadn't heard of this one. I picked it up in the library. I nearly gave up at the halfway point as I was finding it dull. The characters hadn't really been developed and it had taken that long to set the scene!

Milby is a small and somewhat 'gossipy' village. The arrival of a new curate with 'disturbingly evangelical views' creates dramatic tension as the villagers are divided. Should they support the likeable new preacher with his radical views or stick to the old familiar tradition without the scandalous 'evening service on sundays!'

Janet suffers at the hands of her violent, abusive and alcoholic husband. But he can't really be that bad can he--she probably brought some of it on herself.....or so say the busybodies.

I'm glad I finished this in the end. It was around the halfway mark (when I was set to give up) that the story became interesting. The battle of the villagers over religious doctrine wasn't that compelling, although it depicts what can happen in a small community when ANY type of change is attempted or new ideas floated. People don't like change and it takes time. In some cases they would rather stick to what they know even if they have lost faith in it than investigate the truth for themselves. This is demonstrated in our sadly apathetic society today where people refuse to thoroughly examine the claims of Jesus preferring just to follow the supposed intelligence of militant atheists and the secular press. We are losing the ability to think for ourselves and prefer to follow the majority in being told what we should think....and what is acceptable to think. This story illustrates this well. The vast majority of the characters make judgements based not on what the preachers are saying or what they are teaching about God, but on superficial criteria or based on what their friends are doing or what their ancestors did.

Janet's dilemma, having been violently cast into the street in her nightwear, what to do next? Her love and compassion for her husband despite the vices and violence is evident. It is not just a decision she has made but something she feels with her whole being. She is torn between her memories of the first few blissful years of marriage and the reality of what her marriage has turned into. Yet still she hesistates believing things could return to how they used to be.....what will she decide? or will she have to decide at all? This aspect of the story will no doubt ring true for the many sufferers of domestic violence. The internal struggle of the victim is well documented here.

This book is clean--free of bad language, and sexual content. There is limited medium level violence. I would recommend the book for Christian readers, but maybe start at the middle of the book!

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