Middlemarch is an evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community in early 19th-century England. Set in the small provicial town of Middlemarch, the narrative follows several strands. But it's the story of Dorothea Brooke which captures the imagination. She marries an aging cleric, Casaubon, against the advice of her family. When he dies, Dorothea marries his nephew, Will. In marrying, she sets aside her own dreams.