Daniel Deronda

Two books for the price of one.  

In the first, the vain, beautiful and selfish Gwendolen Harleth accidentally gets hitched to the vile and manipulative Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt.  Shes suffers and learns and works to become a better person, under the tutelage of...

Daniel Deronda, a young English gentleman of uncertain parentage, who, whilst trying to figure out his course in life, wanders about literally rescuing damsels in distress.  An utter romantic, who, upon learning that his biological parents were Jewish, falls in love with Jewishness (despite knowing next to nothing about the religion or the culture) and becomes a Zionist.

The bulk of English society is portrayed as mildly bigoted.  Grandcourt is the only true villain though.  Deronda is so good that he comes across as boring.  

This novel is classic reading. I read it at university, because I had plenty of time and read widely because I enjoyed the freedom to do so. It has become my favourite book and have read it twice now. It is a slow read, but enjoyable read where the protagonist's identity is slowly unravelled. He goes on a journey of self-discovery while becoming aware of people who are different from himself in social class and religion. At the heart of the novel is an story of adoption and an exploration of nurture versus nature. There is also a love story or perhaps even love triangle built into the plot, but the main focus remains firmly on Deronda finding himself, accepting who he is and defying social conventions.