Three novellas make up this collection of scenes, and, unusually for my experience of Eliot, I loved only two. I could not get into the middle rather sentimental tale of a wealthy family's poor ward who falls tragically for the heir to the manor, with predictable consequences. The first story showcases Eliot's customary gift for the understanding of human natures and gives us plenty of rich characters in a short format, while presenting some very funny commentary on the ways of the Church of England. But it is the final story, "Janet's Repentance" that is the star of this work. It concerns the genuinely surprising subject (for Victorian fiction) of domestic violence, treated in an almost shockingly honest and modern way. Though Eliot skirts the resolution of this situation somewhat, the portrayal of trauma inflicted upon a victim of both emotional and physical abuse reads as startlingly accurate. As members of the small village go through various kinds of victim-blaming, Eliot's narrator stands wholly behind her heroine. This portrayal is entirely moving and captivating, as I have come to expect from Eliot's supreme understanding of human nature.