Adam Bede

by George Eliot

"Adam Bede" by George Eliot is a novel first published in 1859. Set in the rural community of Hayslope in 1799, it follows a love entanglement among four characters: the virtuous carpenter Adam Bede, the beautiful but vain Hetty Sorrel, the charming young squire Arthur Donnithorne, and the devout Methodist preacher Dinah Morris. When forbidden attraction leads to seduction and devastating consequences, the story unfolds into tragedy involving child murder, guilt, and the search for redemption in a close-knit pastoral world.