George Eliot's last and most unconventional novel is
considered by many to be her greatest. First published in
installments in 1874-76, "Daniel Deronda" is a richly imagined epic
with a mysterious hero at its heart. Deronda, a high-minded young
man searching for his path in life, finds himself drawn by a series
of dramatic encounters into two contrasting worlds: the English
country-house life of Gwendolen Harleth, a high-spirited beauty
trapped in an oppressive marriage, and the very different lives of
a poor Jewish girl, Mirah, and her family. As Deronda uncovers the
long-hidden secret of his own parentage, Eliot's moving and
suspenseful narrative opens up a world of Jewish experience
previously unknown to the Victorian novel.