In the quiet world of rural English clergy, lives are full of challenges, conflicts, desires and expectations. George Eliot’s first published work of fiction (1857) comprises three separate stories and has the hallmarks of her famous later works – her gentle wit and clever satire, her psychological insight, and her keen observation of human nature and frailty. These are beautifully written and poignant tales, set in and around the fictional Midlands town of Milby.

Reverend Amos Barton has a tough time as the new curate in Shepperton, in The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton; in Mr Gilfil’s Love Story, Maynard Gilfil is in love with an Italian orphan called Tina, who becomes the central focus of the story; and in Janet’s Repentance, Edgar Tryan, an evangelical, helps Janet to overcome the abuse of her husband.

Scenes of Clerical Life opens the curtain on one of the greatest Victorian novelists.