Best known work

• Middlemarch, 1871

Other well known work(s)

• Adam Bede, 1859
• The Mill on the Floss, 1860

Genres

• Fiction - Novels
• Journalism
• Travel Writing / Translation

Nom de plume

Mary Ann Evans, Mary Anne Evans, Marian Evans, Marian Evans Lewes, Mary Ann Cross

Social class

Middle class

Parental background

Her father was an estate manager and Eliot grew up on a farm. She attended boarding schools.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 58
• Marital status: Unmarried (cohabiting with George Lewes)
• Number of children: 0

Physical description

Eliot was very aware of her plain appearance and long face. In her biography of Eliot, Mathilde Blind describes her as having: "soft pale-brown hair worn in ringlets. Her head was massive, her features powerful and rugged, her mouth large but shapely, the jaw singularly square for a woman, yet having a certain delicacy of outline [...] Her eyes, of a grey-blue, constantly varying in colour [...] were small and not beautiful in themselves." "Though not above the middle height Marian gave people the impression of being much taller than she really was, her figure, though thin and slight, being well-posed and not without a certain sturdiness of make."

Did you know?

Eliot married for the first time aged 61, to a man twenty years her junior. Her new husband, prone to depression, fell or threw himself from the balcony of their hotel in Venice whilst on honeymoon. He survived and the couple remained together until her death.

Additional information

As ever, a reliable source of information about Eliot can be found at the Victorian Web. The George Eliot fellowship hosts a wealth of resources.