by awalls37
Type: fiction
Status: to read
Author: George Eliot
Tags: friendship identity oppression Zionist Victorian_England idealist
Description: The story opens memorably at a roulette table, where we first meet the young and idealisticThe story opens memorably at a roulette table, where we first meet the young and idealistic Daniel Deronda and the enchanting Gwendolen Harleth—whom many critics consider to be George Eliot’s finest creation. Although the two are immediately drawn to one another, Gwendolen—outwardly alluring and vivacious, inwardly complex and unsettled—is forced by circumstance into an oppressive marriage with the harsh aristocratic Henleigh Grandcourt.
Deeply unhappy, she turns for friendship to Daniel, only to discover his involvement with Mirah Lapidoth, a talented young Jewish woman. Torn between his devotion to Gwendolen and his passion for Mirah and the plight of her people, Daniel is forced to look at his own mysterious past and find out who he really is—and who he wants to become....
2006-08-28
