Mill on the Floss (Version 2)

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 31, 2023

In Category - Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Culture & Heritage Fiction

Authors: George Eliot In Year : 1860

Book Language: English

Audiobook: Mill on the Floss (Version 2)

BOOK FIRST. BOY AND GIRL. Chapter I. Outside Dorlcote Mill
Chapter II. Mr Tulliver, of Dorlcote Mill, Declares His Resolution about Tom
Chapter III. Mr Riley Gives His Advice Concerning a School for Tom
Chapter IV. Tom Is Expected
Chapter V. Tom Comes Home
Chapter VI. The Aunts and Uncles Are Coming
Chapter VII. Part i Enter the Aunts and Uncles
Chapter VII. Part ii Enter the Aunts and Uncles, cont'd
Chapter VIII. Mr Tulliver Shows His Weaker Side
Chapter IX. To Garum Firs
Chapter X. Maggie Behaves Worse Than She Expected
Chapter XI. Maggie Tries to Run away from Her Shadow
Chapter XII. Mr and Mrs Glegg at Home
Chapter XIII. Mr Tulliver Further Entangles the Skein of Life
BOOK SECOND. SCHOOL-TIME. Chapter I. Part I Tom’s ''First Half''
Chapter I. Part II Tom’s ''First Half'', cont'd
Chapter II. The Christmas Holidays
Chapter III. The New Schoolfellow
Chapter IV. ''The Young Idea''
Chapter V. Maggie's Second Visit
Chapter VI. A Love-Scene
Chapter VII. The Golden Gates Are Passed
BOOK THIRD. THE DOWNFALL. Chapter I. What Had Happened at Home
Chapter II. Mrs Tulliver's Teraphim, or Household Gods
Chapter III. Part i The Family Council
Chapter III. Part ii The Family Council, cont'd
Chapter IV. A Vanishing Gleam
Chapter V. Tom Applies His Knife to the Oyster
Chapter VI. Tending to Refute the Popular Prejudice against the Present of a Pocket-Knife
Chapter VII. How a Hen Takes to Strategem
Chapter VIII. Daylight on the Wreck
Chapter IX. An Item Added to the Family Register
BOOK FOURTH. THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION. Chapter I. A Variation of Protestantism Unknown to Bossuet
Chapter II. The Torn Nest is Pierced by the Thorns
Chapter III. Part i A Voice from the Past
Chapter III. Part ii A Voice from the Past, cont'd
BOOK FIFTH. WHEAT AND TARES. Chapter I. In the Red Deeps
Chapter II. Part i Aunt Glegg Learns the Breadth of Bob's Thumb
Chapter II. Part ii Aunt Glegg Learns the Breadth of Bob's Thumb, cont'd
Chapter III. The Wavering Balance
Chapter IV. Another Love-Scene
Chapter V. The Cloven Tree
Chapter VI. The Hard-Won Triumph
Chapter VII. A Day of Reckoning
BOOK SIXTH. THE GREAT TEMPTATION. Chapter I. A Duet in Paradise
Chapter II. First Impressions
Chapter III. Confidential Moments
Chapter IV. Brother and Sister
Chapter V. Showing That Tom Had Opened the Oyster
Chapter VI. Illustrating the Laws of Attraction
Chapter VII. Philip Re-enters
Chapter VIII. Wakem in a New Light
Chapter IX. Charity in Full-Dress
Chapter X. The Spell Seems Broken
Chapter XI. In the Lane
Chapter XII. A Family Party
Chapter XIII. Borne Along by the Tide
Chapter XIV. Waking
BOOK SEVENTH. THE FINAL RESCUE. Chapter I. The Return to the Mill
Chapter II. St Ogg's Passes Judgment
Chapter III. Showing That Old Acquaintances Are Capable of Surprising Us
Chapter IV. Maggie and Lucy
Chapter V. The Last Conflict, and Conclusion

The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot’s second novel, and was published in 1860, only a year after her first, Adam Bede. It centres on the lives of brother and sister Tom and Maggie Tulliver growing up on the river Floss near the town of St. Oggs (a fictionalised version of Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire, England) in the years following the Napoleonic Wars, with both as young adults eventually meeting a tragic end by the Mill which the family holds so dear. In large measure, their lives are dominated by their father, a successful miller brought down by his inability to resist settling arguments in a court of law. Character differences between Tom and Maggie - he dour and rigid of thought, she lively and impulsive - seem to matter little in childhood, but eventually strain their relationship beyond breaking point. It is Maggie, however, who is the dominant character of the book, arguably one of the great characters of 19th century literature. Each of her relationships is vital to the narrative: with her parents, with Tom above all, but on a romantic level with Philip Wakem, the sensitive hunchbacked son of her father’s (and Tom’s) bitterest enemy, and with charming and urbane Stephen Guest, fiance of Maggie’s cousin Lucy Deane. Maggie’s life is changed utterly by an impulsive elopement which she turns back from, but too late to stop the inevitable abuse and contempt. This is a semi-autobiographical reflection of the vilification which George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) herself had to endure while openly living with a married man, a time when her brother was willing to communicate with her only through lawyers. Eliot writes of character and relationships with an insight and sharp detail that few authors have ever equaled. It’s a long book, but you will appreciate it for its depth. - Summary by Tom Denholm