The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot

"We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it."

Maggie Tulliver grows up at Dorlcote Mill, adoring her older brother Tom. While Tom is rigid and practical, Maggie is passionate, intelligent, and rebellious. As they grow up, family misfortunes and Maggie's romantic entanglements with Philip Wakem and Stephen Guest drive a wedge between the siblings, leading to a tragic reconciliation in the floodwaters of the Floss.

George Eliot's novel is a poignant study of sibling relationships and the constraints placed on women. It explores the conflict between duty to family and the need for individual self-fulfillment.