Middlemarch (1871)

Marriage, professional ambition and credit are never private matters when an entire town is keeping accounts. Eliot gives idealistic people motives they only partly understand, then shows the practical consequences for everyone around them. It is especially rewarding if you enjoy revising a quick judgement about who is sensible or selfish. Published in 1871–72, it is set around the Reform Bill of 1832. Allow time for the interlocking households; the bite comes through patient scrutiny rather than villains alone.