The Moorland Cottage

A young girl called Maggie, loves her overbearing brother, despite his occasional bullying. But will she give up the man she loves at her brother's insistence? Yes, the plot does have similarities with George Eliot's 'The Mill on the Floss' and the heroines share the same name. Both have a similar climactic scene. Eliot's novel dates from 1860, so Gaskell's book came first. Despite the plot similarities, the treatment of the theme is rather different.