It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Daniel Deronda

Daniel Deronda

Summary

George Eliot's final novel is an extraordinary, keen and yet tender examination of two very different lives.

A beautiful young woman stands poised over the gambling tables in an expensive hotel. She is aware of, and resents, the gaze of an unusual young man, a stranger, who seems to judge her, and find her wanting. The encounter will change her life.

The strange young man is Daniel Deronda, brought up with his own origins shrouded in mystery, searching for a compelling outlet for his singular talents and remarkable capacity for empathy. Deronda's destiny will change the lives of many.

‘There is not a page of Daniel Deronda that is not marked with intelligence, and a few are as queer and perceptive as any I've read’ Sunday Times

Reviews

  • Daniel Deronda...is written with an understanding of egoism that no one except Proust has ever matched, and a calm assurance of style that sends a shiver of terrified sympathy down my spine.
    Laurence Lerner, Independent

About the author

George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) (1819-80) was a philosopher, journalist and translator before she became a novelist, her first stories being published in 1856. She led an unconventional life, co-editing the liberal journal Westminster Review for three years and living with the married man and philosopher George Henry Lewes. Her novels are among the greatest of the nineteenth century
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more