Middlemarch
British novelist, 1819–1880.
Middlemarch is an 1871 novel by George Eliot.
On 8 of the 13 lists it was eligible for.
The Novel Index earns a small commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never affects our rankings. More about how we earn.
At a glance
- Author
- George Eliot
- First published
- 1871
- Length
- 880 pages (UK paperback)
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Class and society, Rural life
Is Middlemarch worth reading?
8 of the 13 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph) and Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 1 | See the list |
| 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019) | Listed | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 2 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 1 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015) | Listed | See the list |
| The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015) | No. 1 | See the list |
| The Big Read top 100 (BBC, 2003) | No. 27 | See the list |
Best edition of Middlemarch
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2003), 880 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2003)
- Pages
- 880
- ISBN
- 9780141439549
How critics and readers rate Middlemarch
Critics rate it most highly: it earned 91% of the points available on critics' lists, against 42% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Middlemarch
If you liked Middlemarch, try Daniel Deronda, Anna Karenina or Jane Eyre.
