George Eliot, author of novels such as The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, Romola, Felix Holt, Daniel Deronda, and Middlemarch, was actually named Mary Ann Evans.

Mary Ann Evans was born November 22, 1819 in Warwickshire. Her father, Robert Evans, was the estate manager for the Newdigate family of Arbury Hall. She was said to be quite a curious child who was always eager to learn, so she was given permission to browse the grand library at Arbury Hall.

Evans was very intelligent, having the ability to speak several languages, including German, Hebrew, and Greek. She received a traditional education that was largely dominated by Christian teachings, however, when she reached her twenties, Evans would come into contact with a circle of freethinkers that would begin to radically transform her beliefs. She would fully renounce her Christian faith and embrace atheism after translating two books, Life of Jesus by David Friedrich Strauss and The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach, into English.

After her father’s death in 1851, Evans would inherit all of his money, allowing her to start a life of her own, independent from her family. That same year, she moved to London and took a job as the editor of the Westminster Review (a radical and reformist journal). She also changed her name to Marian Evans.

Working at the Westminster Review allowed Evans to come into contact with some of the leading intellectuals of her time, one of them being George Henry Lewes. He was a philosopher, a psychologist, and a literary critic who sometimes wrote for the Review. In 1854, Evans would travel with Lewes to Weimar while he did research for his biography The Life of Goethe. This scandalized Victorian society for, though he was separated from his wife, he was unable to get a divorce, so he was still a married man. Despite the scandal, the two lived together, openly, and Marian started referring to herself as Marian Evans Lewes.

Lewes was very supportive of, and influential in, Evans' career. He was the one who first encouraged her to write fiction, and the one who sent her first manuscript, “Amos Barton”, to John Blackwood, who was the head of the publishing firm William Blackwood and Sons, though he did not reveal who the writer was. In her own letter to Blackwood, Evans’ suggested that the name “George Eliot” be put on her work rather than her own. The male pen name not only to hide her gender, but to hide her social position (her relationship with Lewes), both of which may have kept her work from being taken seriously. The name “George Eliot” has been used to publish, unlike the pseudonyms of several other female others, it is still used today to identify her influential work.

Evans' first novel, Adam Bede, was published in 1859 and was an instant success, making George Eliot into somewhat of a household name. The story had taken influence from the life of her aunt, who was a methodist preacher. Her next novel, The Mill on the Floss, was published in 1860, and was clearly inspired by her childhood in small-town rural England and her time with the Newdigate family. Her best-known work, due to its use in schools, Silas Marner, was published a year later. Evans’, or rather Eliot’s, fame grew with each new publication. Her poem “The Spanish Gypsy”, originally published in 1868, sold 4,000 copies by its fifth edition in 1875.

In June 1859, Evan’s true identity was revealed but, despite the public's initial shock, her novels continued to sell extremely well. In fact, her work was so well-liked that people began to respect her “improper” relationship with Lewes and began inviting the two to social events.

Sometime between 1871 and 1872, Evans published Middlemarch, which some consider to be her best work, as it is not only great fiction, but an important social piece that has been said to be on par with Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. In 1876, Evans would publish her last novel, Daniel Deronda.

Two years later, Lewes unfortunately passed away. Marian was devastated by his death, so much so that she could not bring herself to appear at his funeral, and for months she would not see anyone but his son, Charles. She eventually began talking with John Walter Cross, who had been a friend to her and Lewes, and in 1880, she married Cross and changed her name to Mary Ann Cross. Their relationship was considered quite odd, since Evans was 20 years older than him, but it did help to lift her spirits for a while.

Evans was not happy for long, however. During their honeymoon in Venice, Cross jumped from their hotel balcony and into the Grand Canal, sparking gossip in England about what may have led him to jump. When the two returned to England after their honeymoon, they got a house on the river Thames.

On December 22, 1880, Evans died from kidney failure. She was buried at Highgate Cemetary next to Lewes.