Caterina Sarti is the orphaned daughter of an Italian music master who has been brought up by the aristocratic Cheverel family. In love with the Cheverel heir, Anthony Wybrow, her hopes of marriage are frustrated by the discovery that not only has Anthony merely been playing with her affections, but his family will never accept her as their equal.
Mr. Gilfil, the faithful vicar, rescues Caterina from her despair, but not before she has been irrevocably damaged by her unkind treatment. Published alongside Amos Barton as part of George Eliot's fictional debut, Mr. Gilfil's Love Story tells the story of Barton's predecessor as the vicar at Shepperton.
A masterly evocation of tragic love, it also reflects Eliot's deep ambivalence towards the upper classes.
