The rain was still falling against the windows and the wind was blowing strongly. Inside the library, there was silence. Dorothea sat down on a couch in the middle of the room. Will sat down beside her and held her hand. 'Oh, it is impossible!' Will cried. 'We love each other, but we can never be married!' Middlemarch is George Eliot's classic story of the lives and loves of people living in a small English town. The idealistic Dorothea, unhappy and bored with her marriage, begins a sensitive friendship with her husband's young cousin, Will Ladislaw. Meanwhile, the beautiful but spoilt Rosamond Vincey wants to marry the idealistic but poor Doctor Lydgate. Lydgate does not want to get married, but Rosamond is determined to change his mind... Includes: - Notes about the life of George Eliot - Notes about the story - Points for Understanding comprehension questions - Discussion and essay-based exercises - Glossary of difficult vocabulary - Free resources including worksheets, tests and author data sheets.