Barnes & Noble Digital Library

Published in 1859, Adam Bede was Eliot''s first novel.  This remarkably accomplished debut established Eliot as a writer of the first rank.  In rural Hayslope, Adam Bede, a local carpenter, falls in love with the beautiful but vain Hetty Sorrell, who is herself in love with a caddish young squire who seduces her and casts her aside.