Title: Adam Bede
Author: George Eliot
Publisher: Pocket Library (PL 507)
Format: Paperback
Publication Year: c1956
Used Condition: clean text, no marks, not ex-library, pages lightly age darkened, minor discoloration to cover, edge wear, several pages beginning to pull away from glue at lower edge
Description
Inspired by an anecdote told to George Eliot by her aunt, ADAM BEDE is notable for its extraordinarily realistic characters and convincing depiction of English rural life, complete with the earthy Derbyshire dialect of the title character. It is the story of Hetty Sorrel, the dairymaid who spurns the working-class Adam, a carpenter, for the faithless lord of the manor, and is abandoned by him after she becomes pregnant. When it was first published, in 1859, the book earned praise for its nuanced and unflinching description of a young woman's fall from grace and for Adam's simple righteousness. But George Eliot's choice of this scandalous subject matter for her first novel also met a great deal of adverse criticism, and only reaffirmed her decision to publish her novels under a pseudonym rather than as Mary Ann Evans, her given name.
