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Romola

George Eliot

Start date: January 1, 2020

Finish date: March 31, 2020

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What Members Thought

May 05, 2020 Sara rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned, gutenberg-download, literary-fiction, women-writers, classics, historical-fiction

Before I critique this book, I have to critique this cover. Eliot could not make it clearer that Romola is a blonde. Her golden hair is referenced over and over again. Who is the dufus who chose this cover photo? Sorry, but all Italians must be raven-haired? I’m not thinking Eliot would have been impressed.

I have decided to DNF Romola after 238 pages of forced reading. I cannot believe I am ditching a George Eliot novel, but this is nothing like any of her other novels. It is set in Italy and it ...more

59 likes · Like · see review

Oct 13, 2020 Chrissie marked it as to-read

Shelves: italy, classics, hf, audible-uk, history, religion

************************
*Silas Marner 3 stars
*The Mill on the Floss 1 star
*Adam Bede TBR
*Romola TBR
*Middlemarch TBR ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 02, 2010 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, classics, hf-renaissance, bookmooch, victorians, italy, read-2012, mtbr-challenge-2012

This book tells the story about the struggle for the restoration of popular government in Florence after almost 60 years of domination by the Medici's.

The book starts in the year of Lorenzo's death (1494), describes the invasion by Charles VIII of France and shows the beginning and ending of Savoranola in 1498.

Niccolò Machiavelli plays an important role into this story.

The main characters, Romola and her unfaithful husband Tito Melma have their story told into the above historical background.

As ...more

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Nov 18, 2019 Annette rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-read, george-eliot-challenge-2019, audiobook, books-by-women, gbbw-read, 2019

I’ve finally read all of the novels by Eliot. I read some of Romola but mostly enjoyed listening to it on Audible. (The Audible narrator, Gabriel Woolf, was excellent.) The setting and the pace were so different from her other works.

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