''she felt herself standing at the game of life with many eyes upon her, daring everything to win much''Gwendolen Harleth gambles her happiness when she marries a sadistic aristocrat for his money. Beautiful, neurotic, and self-centred, Gwendolen is trapped in an increasingly destructive relationship, and only her chance encounter with the idealistic Deronda seems to offer the hope of a brighter future. Deronda is searching for a vocation, and in embracing the Jewish cause he finds one that is both visionary and life-changing. Damaged by their pasts, and alienated from the society around them,they must both discover the values that will give their lives meaning. George Eliot''s powerful novel is set in a Britain whose ruling class is decadent and materialistic, its power likely to be threatened by a politically emergent Germany. The novel''s exploration of sexuality, guilt, and the will to power anticipates later developments in fiction, and its linking of the personal and the politica
