Phoebe and Rob

Esther Summerson is an orphan who comes to live with John Jarndyce and is a companion to his wards Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, who are in love. Soon a mysterious connection comes to light between Esther and Lady Dedlock and the romantic tangle of trails is followed by three unforgettable sleuths, Guppy, Tulkinghorn and Bucket. When Lady Deadlock's astonishing secrets are revealed it becomes plain that she has been concealing an all-too-passionate past.

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.