Publisher's Synopsis
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Dorlcote Mill is located on the banks of the River Floss, near the village of St. Ogg. Owned by the ambitious Mr. Tulliver, the mill provides a good life for the Tulliver family, but Mr. Tulliver dreams of the day his son Tom will achieve a higher position in life. Mrs. Tulliver's sisters, who had married well, criticize Mr. Tulliver's unseemly ambition, and openly predict the day his sky castles will ruin him and his family. Aunt Glegg is the richest of the sisters and has a note on her property. After arguing with her about her plans for Tom's education, Mr. Tulliver decides to borrow the money and pay her back.
Tom has inherited the placid arrogance of his mother's relatives; for him, life is not difficult. He is determined to be fair in all his dealings and to punish those who deserve it. His sister Maggie grows up with an imagination that surpasses his understanding. Her aunts predict that she will come to a bad end because she is tomboyish, dark-skinned, dreamy, and indifferent to their orders. Frightened by her lack of success in her attempt to please her brother Tom, her cousin Lucy, her mother, and her aunts, Maggie runs away, determined to live with the gypsies, but is happy enough to return. Her father scolds her mother and Tom for abusing her. Her mother is sure Maggie will come to a bad end from the way Mr. Tulliver humiliates her.
Tom's problems begin when his father sends him to study at Mr. Stelling's school. With little interest in spelling, grammar, or Latin, Tom wishes he were back at the mill, where he can dream of one day riding a horse like his father's and giving orders to the people around him. Mr. Stelling is convinced that Tom is not only stubborn but stupid. Returning home for the Christmas holidays, Tom learns that Philip Wakem, the son of a lawyer who is an enemy of his father, will also enter Mr. Stelling's school.
Philip is disabled; Tom, therefore, cannot beat him up. Philip knows how to draw and knows Latin and Greek. After overcoming their initial reserve, the two boys become useful to each other. Philip admires Tom's arrogance and self-control, and Tom needs Philip to help him with his studies, but his parents' quarrel keeps a gulf between them.
When Maggie visits Tom, she meets Philip and the two become close friends. After Maggie is sent to school with her cousin Lucy, Mr. Tulliver becomes involved in a lawsuit. Because Wakem defends the opposition, Tulliver says his children should have as little to do with Philip as possible. Mr. Tulliver loses his suit and may also lose all of his property. To pay Aunt Glegg, he borrowed money for his home furnishings. Now he hopes that Aunt Pullet will lend him the money to pay the debt against which that furniture is lost. She can no longer afford to keep Maggie and Tom in school. When he learns that Mr. Wakem had paid his debts, the discovery causes him to have a stroke. Tom makes Maggie promise that she will never speak to Philip Wakem again. Mrs. Tulliver cries that her household belongings will be put up for sale at auction. In the ruin that follows, Tom and Maggie decline their aunts' dismissive offers of help.
Bob Jakin, a country brute whom Tom had fought as a child, appears to offer Tom a partnership with him in a venture where Tom's education will aid Bob's native entrepreneurial savvy. Because they both have no capital, Tom takes a job in a warehouse for the moment and studies accounting at night.
Mr. Wakem buys the mill but allows Mr. Tulliver to act as his wage manager. Wakem's plan is to finally hand the mill over to his son. Not knowing what else to do, Tulliver remains an employee of his enemy, but asks Tom to sign a statement in the Bible that he will wish the Wakems evil as long as he lives. Against Maggie's pleas, Tom signs his name. Finally, Aunt Glegg gives money to Tom, who invests with Bob Jakin ...