The Egoist

Meredith turns his comic gaze on Sir Willoughby Patterne, a wealthy landowner so wrapped up in himself that he cannot imagine a woman refusing him. When his first intended bride slips away, he settles on the clever Clara Middleton, who slowly grasps what marriage to such a man would cost her and begins to plot her escape. Around them move the patient Laetitia Dale and a household of sharply drawn relations and hangers-on. Written with dense, glittering prose and a keen eye for vanity, the novel dissects egoism as both a personal failing and a social performance. It remains one of the great English comedies of manners. This free PDF and EPUB edition offers the complete text.