READING TIME · GEORGE ELIOT · 1871

How long does it take to read Middlemarch?

At an average reading speed, about 20 hours 20 minutes. Middlemarch is 317,701 words long, in 86 chapters.

WORDS: 317,701
CHAPTERS: 86
READING LEVEL: About grade 8 (Flesch–Kincaid)

Reading time at different speeds

Total reading time for Middlemarch at three reading speeds
Reader	Speed	Whole book
Unhurried	200 words a minute	26 h 30 min
Average adult reader	260 words a minute	20 h 20 min
Quick reader	320 words a minute	16 h 35 min

To finish it at a steady pace:

20 minutes a day: about 62 days
30 minutes a day: about 41 days
60 minutes a day: about 21 days

How many chapters are in Middlemarch?

Middlemarch has 86 chapters. The longest is Chapter 37 (8,249 words, 32 min); the shortest is Chapter 79 (860 words, 3 min). The average chapter takes 14 min.

Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.

Words and reading time for each chapter of Middlemarch
Chapter	Words	Reading time	Practice in Parlor
Chapter 1	3,300	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 2	2,943	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 3	4,336	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 4	2,872	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 5	3,476	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 6	4,321	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 7	1,615	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 8	2,112	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 9	3,965	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 10	4,363	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 11	3,602	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 12	6,586	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 13	3,734	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 14	3,536	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 15	5,500	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 16	5,215	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 17	3,454	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 18	4,459	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 19	1,502	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 20	4,579	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 21	3,134	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 22	5,630	22 min	Check it →
Chapter 23	4,891	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 24	4,606	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 25	2,663	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 26	1,858	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 27	3,440	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 28	1,924	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 29	3,066	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 30	2,594	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 31	3,781	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 32	4,428	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 33	2,158	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 34	3,017	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 35	4,341	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 36	5,901	23 min	Check it →
Chapter 37	8,249	32 min	Check it →
Chapter 38	3,303	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 39	4,640	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 40	5,391	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 41	1,993	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 42	4,623	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 43	2,679	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 44	1,223	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 45	6,894	27 min	Check it →
Chapter 46	3,564	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 47	2,208	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 48	3,601	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 49	1,500	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 50	4,097	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 51	4,915	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 52	3,718	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 53	5,163	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 54	4,600	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 55	1,778	7 min	Check it →
Chapter 56	7,752	30 min	Check it →
Chapter 57	3,782	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 58	7,378	28 min	Check it →
Chapter 59	1,120	4 min	Check it →
Chapter 60	4,186	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 61	5,413	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 62	4,490	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 63	2,938	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 64	6,619	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 65	2,030	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 66	3,786	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 67	2,973	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 68	3,083	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 69	3,946	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 70	4,855	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 71	6,496	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 72	1,467	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 73	1,648	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 74	4,161	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 75	2,942	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 76	4,002	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 77	2,756	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 78	1,675	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 79	860	3 min	Check it →
Chapter 80	2,457	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 81	3,898	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 82	1,541	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 83	3,061	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 84	3,674	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 85	1,293	5 min	Check it →
Chapter 86	4,378	17 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 Middlemarch 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 Middlemarch 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 Middlemarch, Project Gutenberg eBook #145, 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 (18.2 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.

Similar length

Nicholas Nickleby 21 h 5 min
The Pickwick Papers 19 h 40 min
Vanity Fair 19 h 20 min
Our Mutual Friend 21 h 30 min

Also by George Eliot

Silas Marner 4 h 35 min
Adam Bede 13 h 50 min

All reading times →