Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. By George Eliot. Virtual Entertainment, 2013. Series: The 10 Greatest Books of All Time. Middlemarch is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. Subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life, " the novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during the period 1830–32.