The novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up on the fictional river Floss near the fictional village of St. Oggs, evidently in the 1820's, after the Napoleonic Wars but prior to the first Reform Bill (1832). The novel spans a period of 10-15 years, from Tom and Maggie's childhood up until their deaths in a flood on the Floss. The book is loosely autobiographical, reflecting the disgrace that George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) herself had while in a relationship with a married man 1Contents 1Book 1: Boy and Girl 2Book 2: School-Time 3Book 3: The Downfall 4Book 4: The Valley of Humiliation 5Book 5: Wheat and Tares 6Book 6: The Great Temptation 7Book 7: The Final Rescu