Middlemarch

In a provincial English town on the eve of reform, ardent young Dorothea Brooke marries a dried-up scholar because she wants her life to mean something, and discovers too late what she has signed up for. Around her, an ambitious doctor makes his own disastrous match, a banker's respectable facade develops cracks, and half of Middlemarch's inhabitants find their fates knotted together by money, gossip, and the choices they can't take back.

George Eliot's masterpiece is often called the greatest English novel, and its special power is sympathy. She lets you inside everyone, even the characters you want to shake. It's long and wise and quietly funny, exactly the kind of book that a good voice and a daily commute can finally open up for you.

At roughly 310,900 words, Middlemarch runs about 34½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

Middlemarch is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “Middlemarch” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.