George Eliot (1819-1880)

Real name was Mary Anne Evans.

Middlemarch


Characters:

• Dorothea Brooke
• Reverend Edward Casaubon
• Will Ladislaw
• Doctor Tertius Lydgate
• Rosamond Vincy
• Bulstrode
• Fred Vincy
• Garth family, Mary Garth

Plot summary:

• Dorothea Brooke is a beautiful and serious-minded young woman who yearns for knowledge and the power to help others. She rejects a titled suitor in favor of Reverend Edward Casaubon, a middle-aged clergyman who she imagines will teach her and engage her in great works. 
• Dorothea' marriage is a mistake and makes the acquaintance of a poor relation, Will Ladislaw, who truly admires her and who matches her in passion and ambition.
• Dorothea inherits Casaubon's large fortune upon his sudden death. She tries to use it for the good of others but finds out that it specifically forbids her from marrying Ladislaw. She gives up the inheritance for Will.
• Dorothea's charitable works bring her into contact with Dr. Tertius Lydgate, who plans to build and run a hospital in anticipation of typhus reaching Middlemarch. Lydgate falls in love with the pretty but impractical Rosamond Vincy, and their financial difficulties put Lydgate into debt with the disreputable attorney Bulstrode. 
• Fred Vincy, Rosamond's brother, marries the plain but kindhearted Mary Garth and takes a step down socially and economically. 

Silas Marner

Characters:

• Silas Marner
• village of Raveloe
• Squire Cass
• Godfrey Cass
• Eppie (Hepzibah)
• Aaron Winthrop
• Nancy Lammeter

Plot summary:

• Silas Marner is a weaver. He was once engaged to a female member of his church but was blamed for a theft he did not commit. Silas was expelled from the  congregation and later finds out that his former fiancee married the man who accused him. 
• Silas settles in the village of Raveloe and becomes a recluse who hoards his money. Thism oney is stolen by a son of Squire Cass, the town's leading land owner.
• Silas adopts an orphaned child and names her Eppie after his deceased mother Hepzibah. She changes his life completely. Silas lost his material gold only to have it replaced by the golden-haired Eppie.
• Eppie was actually the child of Godfrey Cass, the eldest son of Squire Cass. Because the mother was a woman of low birth, Godfrey had refused to clarify her as his wife.
• Godfrey tries to take Eppie home when she was a young woman but she refuses to return with him and his second wife, Nancy Lammeter. 
• In the end Eppie marries a local boy, Aaron Winthrop. 

Adam Bede

Characters:

• Adam Bede
• town of Hayslope
• Seth Bede
• Dinah Morris
• Lisbeth and Thias Bede
• Joshua Rann
• Mr. Irwine
• the Poysers
• Hetty Sorrel
• Arthur Donnithorne
• Bartle Massey

Plot summary:

• Adam Bede is foreman of a carpentry shop where his brother Seth also works
• Seth attempts to propose to Dinah Morris, a Methodist preacher
• Adam finds out that Thias has gone off drinking instead of finishing a coffin. Seth  and Adam deliver it the next morning and find the drowned body of their father in a brook.
• Joshua Rann, the parish clerk, informs Mr. Irwine, the local Anglican clergyman, that the Methodists are stirring up dissension in Hayslope. Mr. Irwine and Arthur Donnithorne, grandson and heir of the local landowner, ride over to  see Dinah at Hall Farm, where the Poysers, her aunt and uncle, live. Irwine is impressed with Dinah's sincerity and Arthur flirts with Hetty Sorrel, another of the Poysers' nieces.
• Mr. Irwine informs Dinah of Thias's death and she goes to the Bede's cottage to comfort Lisbeth. 
• Arthur learns that Hetty will be at the Chase, his manor, in two days' time, and places himself so he can meet her in the grounds. He is ashamed for being attracted to a mere farm girl but he kisses her anyway. He tries to confess to Mr. Irwine but fails.
• Adam looks forward to marrying Hetty but he doesn't realize she likes Arthur. While visiting Bartle Massey one evening he learns that the keeper of Chase woods has had a stroke and that the job may be offered to him.
• All the tenants of the Chase estate arrive to celebrate Arthur's 21st birthday. Adam accepts the job of keeper of the woods. During the dance, Adam discovers by accident that Hetty is wearing a locket which looks like a lover's token, but he dismisses the thought that she is interested in another man. The locket is from Arthur as he and Hetty are carrying on a secret affair.
• Three weeks later, Adam passes through the grove on Chase grounds and finds Arthur and Hetty in an embrace. He fights Arthur and knocks him out. When Arthur revives, Adam forces him to promise to write a note to Hetty breaking off the relationship, which Arthur does. Arthur then leaves to join a regiment.
• Adam delivers the note and Hetty is in despair. She wishes to leave but the Poysers will not let her, and she decides that marrying Adam is not such a bad prospect after all, as she is pregnant by Arthur. She decides to run away to go to Arthur under the pretext of visiting Dinah in Snowfield.
• Hetty arrives sick and exhausted at Windsor, and is informed by an innkeeper that Arthur's regiment has left for Ireland. She resumes her journey.
• When Hetty does not return in the expected time, Adam decides to go to Snowfield and discovers that she had never been there. He resolves to go to Ireland and stops by at the parsonage to tell Mr. Irwine his plans. There, Adam learns that Hetty is in prison in Stoniton for the murder of her baby. 
• Arthur returns from Ireland as his grandfather has died and learns of the situation. He leaves immediately for Stoniton. 
• Dinah visits Hetty and gets her to confess her guilt. Hetty is taken to the place of execution but at the last minute Arthur comes riding up with a reprieve - she has been sentenced to exile instead. 
• The next day, Adam and Arthur meet by chance in the grove where they had fought, and they make up.
• 18 months later, Adam visits the Poysers to ask Dinah to comfort his mother. After she leaves, Lisbeth tells Adam that Dinah is in love with her. He proposes to Dinah but her sense of duty stops her as she wishes to work among the poor.
• A month later, Adam goes to Snowfield and meets Dinah atop a hill. She accepts his proposal and they are married. 
• Some years later, Dinah and Seth are at home with Dinah's two children. Adam comes home after having been to see Arthur, who is a changed man. We learn that Hetty is dead.