Romola

Description

Eliot’s only historical novel, set in 15th century Florence under the rule of the Medicis, blends fact with fiction as the reader follows the almost saint-like Romola and the amoral and feckless Tito Melema whom she marries against the advice of her brother, an equally saintly priest. An impressive account of Renaissance life in a wealthy Italian state.

First Sentence

MORE than three centuries and a half ago, in the mid springtime of 1492, we are sure that the angel of the dawn, as he travelled with broad slow wing from the Levant to the of Hercules, and from the summits of the Caucasus across all the snowy alpine ridges to the dark nakedness of the western isles, saw nearly the same outline of firm land and unstable sea-saw the same great mountain shadows on the same valleys as he has seen to-day-saw olive mounts, and pine forests, and the broad plains green with young corn or rain-freshened grass-saw the domes and spires of cities rising by the river sides or mingled with the sedge-like masts on the many-curved sea coast, in the same spots where they rise to-day.

Subjects

Genres

• Fiction

Series Statement

• Penguin classics

Other Editions

• RomolaPenguin Books1996-01-01
• Romola.Harper & brothers1877-01-01
• Romola.William Blackwood and Sons1878-01-01
• Romola.Belford, Clarke1884-01-01
• RomolaA. L. Burt1892-01-01
• Romola.Soft Leather/ Bucks Skin with Gold Embosed TextHurst and Company1898-01-01