Critical Reception

Abstract

Adam Bede had been a great success (Queen Victoria had commissioned paintings of episodes from the story) and The Mill on the Floss rode on the crest of this popularity, selling 6000 copies in seven weeks, but soon came a reaction and both the second and third editions hung fire. Reasons quite extraneous to the novel itself contributed to this hesitation: between the two novels the identity of the writer had been revealed and this carried three causes of scandal. The author was a woman; she was living with a man not her husband; she was recognised as the translator of a book challenging the historical basis of Christianity. Some of the early reviews are coloured by their unease with this unconventional lady.