George Eliot

Female Victorian novelist George Eliot used a man's pseudonym to be sure that her writing was taken seriously by the public. Two of her most famous novels are Middlemarch and Silas Marner.

Mary Ann Evans began her career as assistant editor for the Westminster Review in 1858. At this time, it was unusual for an unmarried young women to be mixed with the mostly male society of London and this made her uncomfortable, depressed and filled with self doubt.

Evans published her first novel as George Eliot in 1859 which became an instant success and prompted curiosity about the identity of the author. She continued to write popular novels for 15 years. Evans died of a kidney disease at the age of 61.

• 1859: Adam Bede
• 1860: The Mill on the Floss
• 1861: Silas Marner
• 1863: Romola
• 1866: Felix Holt, the Radical
• 1871: Middlemarch
• 1876: Daniel Deronda

• November 22, 1819: Born Mary Ann Evans at Arbury Park in Astley

• 1836: Mother dies and she takes control of the household

• 1851: Sub-editor of the "Westminster Review"

• 1854-1878: Lives with married critic George Henry Lewes until his death

• 1880: Marries John Cross

• December 22, 1880: Dies

• The majority of the following links are to IMDb, which has pop-ups

• IMDb: Complete George Eliot Filmography

• 1911: Silas Marner

• 1937: The Mill on the Floss

• 1968: Middlemarch

• 1985: Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe

• 1991: Adam Bede

• 1994: Middlemarch

• 1997: The Mill on the Floss

• 2002: Daniel Deronda

• 2009: Middlemarch