Adam Bede (Signet Classics) Mass Market Paperback – Special Edition, by George Eliot (Author), Regina Barrecca (Afterword), F.R. Leavis (Foreword) (Signet)

Adam Bede is a hardy young carpenter who cares for his aging mother. His one weakness is the woman he loves blindly: the trifling town beauty, Hetty Sorrel, whose only delights are her baubles-and the delusion that the careless Captain Donnithorne may ask for her hand. Betrayed by their innocence, both Adam and Hetty allow their foolish hearts to trap them in a triangle of seduction, murder, and retribution.

The book opens with a very well done, detailed profile of a once-wealthy woman--Mrs. Transome--who, like the estate she manages, suffers from dwindled resources. George Eliot draws an interesting portrait of her, creating empathy and sympathy in the reader, yet also alluding in a quietly strategic way that "there is more to learn" about this woman and her circumstances.

Enter the long-traveling son, who has made his fortune in the middle east and has the potential to restore the estate to its former grandeur. Indeed, he sets about doing this, and as that process begins, the other plots are ushered in. There is a great deal of time and effort spent on the Whigs, Tories, and Radicals, which was interesting and yet prompted me to Google various terms on a frequent basis. For us 21st century Americans, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since these royalist/anti-royalist/labor concepts were in flower. The central plot, however, is the love story between the lovely Esther Lyon and her reluctant suitor, Felix Holt. Felix seems to embody the pure voice of the common man, speaking with courage, selflessness, and unabashed virtue. He is almost unbelievably pristine in his moral makeup, but he was still fascinating. His prompting and nudging of Esther to abandon her pettiness and vanity has a surprisingly rapid effect on her, but this did not bother me, as I found the "early Esther" to be quite annoying and I--like Felix--very much wanted her to change.

Felix gets himself in some very hot legal water through a chain of events that seems a bit fantastical, but the plot moves along briskly. I am so used to George Eliot and have so much respect for her that I don't mind her lofty and rhapsodic passages. They are fine and they help make her the great author she is.