George Eliot.

Mary Anne Evans arrived on 22 November 1819 at South Farm, Arbury Hall near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Her father Robert Evans managed Arbury Hall, and her mother Christina Evans raised four children. Mary was a serious child with free access to books, developing a passion for Greek literature that would infuse her later novels.

She attended Miss Latham’s boarding school and then Mrs. Wallington’s Boarding School at Nuneaton, where she met governess Maria Lewis, who influenced her evangelical beliefs. Later at Miss Franklin’s school in Coventry, she studied French and piano. When her mother died in 1838, Mary left school to care for her father but continued studying Italian and German with private tutors.

After moving to Foleshill, she encountered intellectuals and thinkers who shaped her worldview. She began translating David Strauss’s Das Leben Jesu in 1844, marking her entry into literary work.

In 1851, Mary Anne Evans became editor of the Westminster Review under publisher John Chapman. In 1856, she published Scenes of Clerical Life under the male pseudonym George Eliot to ensure her work was taken seriously. Her first novel, Adam Bede 1859, was a success.

The Mill on the Floss 1860 followed, revealing her true identity. She continued with Silas Marner 1861, Romola 1863, and Felix Holt, the Radical 1866. Her masterpiece Middlemarch was published in 1871–1872, securing her widespread recognition and wealth. Her final novel, Daniel Deronda 1876, explored themes of Jewish identity.

In 1854, Mary Anne began living with George Henry Lewes, a critic and philosopher. Lewes was legally married to Agnes Jervis, and their open relationship scandalized London society, causing many acquaintances to shun the couple. They lived together for 23 years until Lewes’s death in 1878.

After a period of grief, she married John Walter Cross on 6 May 1880. She died just seven months later on 22 December 1880 in London from kidney disease.

George Eliot’s novels are noted for their psychological insight and realism. Martin Amis and Julian Barnes have called Middlemarch the greatest English novel. Christopher Hitchens stated that there is more morality in a novel by George Eliot than in any of the four gospels. Her works continue to be studied and adapted; she remains a pioneer of literary realism.