One of George Eliot's finest achievements, The Mill on the Floss is famed for its unsurpassed depiction of English rural life and for its striking, superbly drawn heroine, Maggie Tulliver. The novel's evocation of childhood in the English countryside-at once unsentimental, yet rich with delight-stands as an enduring triumph, but equally memorable are its portrayal of a narrow tradition-bound society and its dramatic unfolding of tragic human destiny.