Silas Marner
by George Eliot | 
Barry Lyndon
by William Makepeace Thackeray | 
The Bride of Lammermoor
by Walter Scott | 
The Newcomes
by William Makepeace Thackeray | 
Felix Holt, the Radical
by George Eliot | 
The History of Pendennis
by William Makepeace Thackeray | 
Barnaby Rudge
by Charles Dickens |
The History of Henry Esmond
by William Makepeace Thackeray | 
The Egoist
by George Meredith | 
The Heart of Midlothian
by Walter Scott | 
Kenilworth
by Walter Scott | 
The Duke's Children
by Anthony Trollope | 
The Way We Live Now
by Anthony Trollope | 
The Way of All Flesh
by Samuel Butler | 
A Pair of Blue Eyes
by Thomas Hardy | 
The Eustace Diamonds
by Anthony Trollope | 
Middlemarch
by George Eliot | 
Daniel Deronda
by George Eliot | 
Adam Bede
by George Eliot | 
The Leopard
by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa |
One of George Eliot's most ambitious and imaginative novels, Romola is set in Renaissance Florence during the turbulent years following the expulsion of the powerful Medici family during which the zealous religious reformer Savonarola rose to control the city. At its heart is Romola, the devoted daughter of a blind scholar, married to the clever but ultimately treacherous Tito whose duplicity in both love and politics threatens to destroy everything she values, and she must break away to find her own path in life. Described by Eliot as 'written with my best blood', the story of Romola's intellectual and spiritual awakening is a compelling portrayal of a Utopian heroine, played out against a turbulent historical backdrop.