Felix Holt, the Radical

"Felix Holt, the Radical" by George Eliot is a social and political novel published in 1866. Set during England's 1832 Reform Act, the story follows an idealistic working-class watchmaker who fights corruption while Harold Transome, an opportunistic landowner, runs for Parliament as a Radical. At the center stands Esther Lyon, who discovers she's the secret heiress to the Transome estate and must choose between a life of wealth with Harold or principled poverty with Felix—a decision symbolizing the novel's deeper conflict between social values.

Felix Holt, the Radical, by George Eliot. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #40882.