(Gwendolen appears to be about as naively hopeful about gambling as I am on those rare occasions that I buy a lottery ticket.) Before she can set out for the casino again, a hotel porter returns her necklace with a mysterious note from someone who “found” it. Gwendolen prepares to return home the next morning but first pawns a necklace with the idea that she might use the money as a stake in winning back the family fortune. Her family is financially ruined, her mother writes, and Gwendolen must come home immediately. Daniel is also in town and he and Gwendolen make note of each other but aren’t actually introduced, and when she returns to her room late one night Gwendolen finds a letter from her mother that changes the trajectory of her life. The initial focus is on Gwendolen Harleth, a vivacious young woman who is staying with friends, gambling and generally enjoying time away from the constraints of her family.

When casting around for a classic to read, I thought of this, George Eliot’s last book, about which I knew nothing beyond the title.ĭaniel Deronda opens in a casino in a resort town in Germany, and the first few chapters only mention the title character in passing. I had previously only read Silas Marner by Eliot, in high school English, and while I had kind of liked parts of it, I recalled it as a bit of a slog (but then, a lot of 19th century fiction was and is a bit of a slog for me). I became a George Eliot fangirl after reading and loving Middlemarch a few years ago.

Jennie B Reviews classic fiction / Historical fiction / Jews / Judaism / non-romance 9 Comments FebruREVIEW: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

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