READING TIME · GEORGE ELIOT · 1859

How long does it take to read Adam Bede?

At an average reading speed, about 13 hours 50 minutes. Adam Bede is 215,193 words long, in 55 chapters.

WORDS: 215,193
CHAPTERS: 55
READING LEVEL: About grade 9 (Flesch–Kincaid)

Reading time at different speeds

Total reading time for Adam Bede at three reading speeds
Reader	Speed	Whole book
Unhurried	200 words a minute	17 h 55 min
Average adult reader	260 words a minute	13 h 50 min
Quick reader	320 words a minute	11 h 10 min

To finish it at a steady pace:

20 minutes a day: about 42 days
30 minutes a day: about 28 days
60 minutes a day: about 14 days

How many chapters are in Adam Bede?

Adam Bede has 55 chapters. The longest is Chapter 18 (9,182 words, 35 min); the shortest is Chapter 47 (346 words, 1 min). The average chapter takes 15 min.

Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.

Words and reading time for each chapter of Adam Bede
Chapter	Words	Reading time	Practice in Parlor
Chapter 1	3,151	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 2	8,153	31 min	Check it →
Chapter 3	2,522	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 4	6,167	24 min	Check it →
Chapter 5	6,833	26 min	Check it →
Chapter 6	5,126	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 7	2,007	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 8	3,362	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 9	2,843	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 10	4,959	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 11	3,392	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 12	4,393	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 13	2,114	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 14	3,633	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 15	5,511	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 16	5,355	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 17	3,905	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 18	9,182	35 min	Check it →
Chapter 19	2,743	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 20	7,357	28 min	Check it →
Chapter 21	6,452	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 22	4,488	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 23	1,920	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 24	3,307	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 25	3,175	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 26	4,483	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 27	4,593	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 28	3,023	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 29	3,084	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 30	5,405	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 31	4,018	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 32	3,781	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 33	2,696	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 34	1,853	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 35	2,430	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 36	3,659	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 37	5,157	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 38	5,658	22 min	Check it →
Chapter 39	2,884	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 40	3,637	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 41	2,043	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 42	1,850	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 43	2,979	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 44	2,992	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 45	4,359	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 46	2,321	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 47	346	1 min	Check it →
Chapter 48	3,723	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 49	3,797	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 50	4,460	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 51	4,931	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 52	3,393	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 53	5,067	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 54	2,158	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 55	2,363	9 min	Check it →

READING IT FOR CLASS?

Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.

Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read Adam Bede one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.

Read a chapter. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.

Open Adam Bede in Parlor →How Parlor practices reading comprehension

Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.

How these numbers were worked out

Words are counted in Adam Bede, Project Gutenberg eBook #507, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.

Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.

The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (22 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.

Similar length

The Deerslayer 13 h 35 min
Moby-Dick 13 h 25 min
The Three Musketeers 14 h 40 min
Jane Eyre 11 h 55 min

Also by George Eliot

Silas Marner 4 h 35 min
Middlemarch 20 h 20 min

All reading times →