Ten of the best bankers in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best bankers in literature.

One entry on the list:

Bulstrode Nicholas

Bulstrode is the Mr Big of George Eliot's Middlemarch, a wealthy provincial banker on whose good will every local gentleman seems to depend. He wields his influence moralistically, for he is a severe Methodist – but of course he has a shady past. He is being blackmailed by a former associate, and takes desperate measures to get rid of him.

Read about the other bankers on the list.

Middlemarch also made John Mullan's lists of ten of the best marital rows, ten of the best examples of unrequited love, ten of the best funerals in literature, and ten of the best deathbed scenes in literature. It is among Emrys Westacott's five top books on philosophy & everyday living, Selma Dabbagh's top 10 stories of reluctant revolutionaries, Philip Pullman's six best books, Rebecca Goldstein's five best of novels of ideas, Tina Brown's five best books on reputation, Elizabeth Kostova favorite books, and Miss Manners' favorite novels. John Banville and Nick Hornby have not read it.

--Marshal Zeringue