Ramola, by George Elliot.

ROMOLA by George Elliot.

“Romola paused for a moment. She had taken Lillo's cheeks between her hands, and his young eyes were meeting hers.
'There was a man to whom I was very near, so that I could see a great deal of his life, who made almost every one fond of him, for he was young, and clever, and beautiful, and his manners to all were gentle and kind. I believe, when I first knew him, he never thought of anything cruel or base. But because he tried to slip away from everything that was unpleasant, and cared for nothing else so much as his own safety, he came at last to commit some of the basest deeds - such as make men infamous. He denied his father, and left him to misery; he betrayed every trust that was reposed in him, that he might keep himself safe and get rich and prosperous. Yet calamity overtook him.'
Again Romola paused. Her voice was unsteady, and Lillo was looking up at her with awed wonder.”


That, in her own words, is the knub of the plot of Romola by George Elliot. It was inspired by a visit to Florence in 1860, and was published in 12 episodes in The Cornhill Magazine. She regarded it as one of her best pieces of work. It has been virtually ignored ever since.

The setting is Florence at the end of the 15th Century. The City and the background characters we meet there, ( some are historical figures, like Machiavelli and Savonarola,) are the real stars of the book. Elliot's evocation of that time and place is irresistible. It is a time of flux in Florence's history. The death of Cosimo D'Medici has lead to both opportunities and dangers for the ambitious. In the piazzas and streets, in the private chambers and at the carnivals and fiestas of the bustling city, we see the gossips, the wide boys, the peasants, the movers and shakers, the zealots and the artists, maneuver and jostle and survive.

This really is a book where the atmosphere and setting is created with such skill and is so vibrant, it overshadows the examination of motives and the consequences of character that Elliot also brings to the feast.

I shall give it a seven and a half out of ten, its a bit long and prone to introspection. But Elliot is a master of her art.