The Mill on the Floss

By: George Eliot

Narrated by: Laura Paton

Maggie Tulliver has two lovers: Philip Wakem, son of her father’s enemy, and Stephen Guest, already promised to her cousin. But the love she wants most in the world is that of her brother Tom. Maggie’s struggle against her passionate and sensual nature leads her to a deeper understanding and to eventual tragedy.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2012 Naxos AudioBooks

Star crossed lovers and cursed houses

A beautiful, haunting story of love, loyalty, and hardship. Wonderfully performed with sincerity and passion.

Perfect Voice

A mesmerizing performance of a novel that should be much better known. Maggie Tulliver is as complicated and brilliant as Jane Eyre, and her aunts, the tragicomic Dodson sisters, are incredibly alive in this performance.

Incredible narrator, incredible book

The narrator was incredible, giving such life and emotion to an already stunning book. George Elliot has such insights into the human heart and soul, and her characters are always so well developed and multi-dimensional. This book is no exception.

Beautiful book!

I loved this book! Characters so vividly brought to life! I felt everyone of Magsie's inner struggles with her! The narrator did justice to this work of art.

Such a thing as faithfulness

Finished "The Mill on the Floss" by George Eliot (after the audio Brothers Karamazov accompanied me in house cleaning chores.)

Highly recommended to understand the emotional turmoil of women tempted to break their commitments. In the strongest moments of Maggie Tulliver who appeared many times to be weak, she spoke to her "temptor"Stephen Guest:

"You feel, as I do, that the real tie lies in the feelings and expectations we have raised in other minds. Else all pledges might be broken, when there was no outward penalty. There would be no such thing as faithfulness.”

Bravo!

Excellent Prose & Narration

While I avoid female narrators, high pitch usually, Laura Paton is the exception. She is phenomenal! The story is very very good but I didn’t care for the ending. Hence the 4 stars. Very much worth a listen and I do recommend  this book.

Amazing book & performance

Highly recommend this book. It's so cleverly constructed. I'm convinced this is one of my favorite Victorian books so far. The reader really paid tribute to all the characters in various changes in her voice. Excellent!

Tragic soap opera

It’s sort of a tragic soap opera with beautiful writing. The writing and performance ate excellent of course but I personally wasn’t a fan of the story.

Sad but elegant, compelling though coincidence-filled

As per above. One of the great Victorian novels, particularly the dramatization of moral dilemmas around which it it built.

Loved it, but it did not have to end so tragically

The story is totally engaging, the writing superb, the characters are mostly well-developed. The family dynamics are great - if you ever think you have a dysfunctional family, or a grandmother or aunt (or parent) that is too critical of everything you wear, or your hair style, your life choices - read this. The depiction of the choices of women is what we find in literature of this era, and much has been written from the feminist angle, from the angle of the sibling relationship, and other aspects. The book is definitely deserving of such analyses and that is testament to its caliber. However, I was troubled by the depiction of different types of love. Stephen Guest's love does not show any depth. What is it that he loves about Maggie? It really isn't clear. Is it just that she represents what his parents would never have chosen for him, and she is pretty, too? There is not intelllectual connection that we can see. A bit of singing? Philip, on the other hand, appreciated Maggie on an intellectual level, and would be someone with whom she could have achieved the intellectual promise she showed from such a young age, if not at the professional level, at least at the personal level. Is the need for desire on the part of a "handsome, tall, desirable" guy so great that it puts all reason aside? Is all this a reason to seek the kind of "redemption" (as a reviewer I read put it) that she had at the end? What psychological problems did Maggie have that her connection to her brother was so much stronger than any other need, including life? It is certainly interesting to see how Eliot chose to end this, and certainly engaging.
The narration is excellent, even if at times it seems a little too pitiful sounding.