Product Description

Gwendolen Harleth, George Eliot's most remarkable heroine, marries for money and power rather than love, but finds marriage a trap and her husband's sadistic use of power constricting. The upper class Victorian society in which she moves is juxtaposed with that of the hero, Daniel Deronda. The warmth and profound moral fervour of his newly discovered community of English jews casts a harsh light on the supperficiality and hypocrisy of Gwendolen's world. Daniel's influence is a redemptive force that ultimately saves Gwendolen from despair.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26388 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

Customer Reviews

A spellbinding book that has remained in my mind ever since
Within reading the first few chapters, Daniel Deronda became my most beloved and favourite of books. I was reading my first Eliot novel, Middlemarch when I saw the advertisements on BBC one for their serial of Daniel Deronda, and knowing little of Eliots other work I watched it with little knowledge of this story. But I was enchanted by the characters and their lives and couldn't wait to read the book. As soon as I had started I wished I hadn't seen the programme first and knew how the story ended, however there was so much more to learn about the characters whilst reading the book that I was consoled. Eliot is a master storyteller and is capable of completely emmersing her readers into her world. I have read of adults finding Eliot difficult to take in, but I was fifteeen when I first read Daniel Deronda and Middlemarch and once I got used to her complex language and analogies I couldn't put it down. I found myself waking up early in the morning just to read and rushing home from school to pick up from that morning. I would recommend Daniel Deronda to anybody that loves romance and drama - Daniel Deronda is packed full of both. Gwendolen is such a tragic heroine, Daniel and Mirah are so impossible not to fall in love with and Grandcourt such a wonderful character to completely detest that I'm sure many other readers will agree that Daniel Deronda is a classic work of genius.

A satisfying read
'Daniel Deronda' is a very satisfying novel - at over 800 pages, it is verging on epic proportions, and its meandering style is at times at odds with a page turning cranking up of the plot - but nevertheless, I seem to have gotten through it surprisingly quickly! Having literally caught a glimpse of the recent TV version, I was intrigued by one line: 'it shall be better with me for knowing you' - and such simple but profound reflections characterise Eliot's style. It is an intensely psychological novel, and Eliot's study of her emotionally self centered heroine, Gwendolen Harleth, as she evolves, through experience, into an admirable woman is really remarkable. It is the kind of novel where the insight shown in portraying the characters makes you feel like you are truly learning something about yourself and others, and to me that is what makes a novel great. Eliot is also concerned with questions of religious and national identity, and the tension between separateness and togetherness is still resonant today. 'Daniel Deronda' is probably less famous than Eliot's other novels 'The Mill on the Floss' and 'Middlemarch', and possibly less finished, but nevertheless highly successful on its own terms. Full of insight - give it a try!

Hugely underrated and surprisingly modern
Although academically Middlemarch is always regarded as Eliot's masterpiece, I've always thought this novel deserves the title. Unlike another reviewer here I don't think the characters are either shallow or 2-dimensional, and it's important that Gwendolen starts off as being a conventional spoilt beauty because that makes her growth and change all the more compelling and significant.
As a woman writing in 19th century England, Eliot bravely highlights the impacts of poverty and the implications for women who are forced to prostitute themselves effectively in the marriage market, since a career is out of the question. This is the dark underside of Jane Austen and an important antidote to that sunny view of male/female relationships and the economic reality behind them.
The other brave element in this book is the theme of Jewishness which was glossed over in most of the literature of this period. It is the clash and interraction of the 2 related prejudices of gender and race/religion that give this book its resonance and importance in my view and its relevance to today.