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Discover George Eliot

Portrait of George Eliot, from inner page of George Eliot’s Life by J.W.Cross
George Eliot by Francois D’Albert-Durade
Black and white photograph showing George Eliot. She is turned slightly to one side and is resting her face lightly on her right hand. She is wearing a light coloured dress with dark stripes. The image has a red border and the words The Late George Eliot. Stereoscopic Co, Copyright are typed in red along the bottom.
Photograph of George Eliot

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Anne Evans. She was born in 1819 at South Farm on the Arbury estate near Nuneaton. Eliot grew up to become a world famous novelist. Her first fictional work, Scenes of Clerical Life, was published in 1857. Her other key works were Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Felix Holt, Silas Marner and Middlemarch. Her writing deals with a wide range of human emotions and draws on her early childhood memories of living in Nuneaton and the surrounding area.

Discover more about the life of George Eliot using the links below.

Colour illustration showing a large house with a number of windows smoking chimneys. The walls are covered in ivy. In the foreground is a garden and the house is framed by trees. A figure can be seen in the foreground.
Eliot’s early life
Painting showing a large light coloured building. Eight windows are visible and a door. A small fence surrounds the front. A large tree with bare branches is in the foreground. There are also trees to the left hand side.
George goes to school
Painting showing a rough lane in the foreground. A hay filled cart and figure are on the lane. There are two women in bonnets to the right hand side and two dogs to the left hand side. The lane is surrounded by green bushes and trees. Houses can be seen ahead. In the distance are three tall spires.
Sent to Coventry
Watercolour painting shows part of a house. There are three chimneys and five window visible. A wall surround the front of the house and a figure is in the foreground. There are tall trees to the left and the right of the house. Aboce is a blue sky with clouds and birds flying around the chimneys.
The move to London
A picture of some old book spines
Eliot the author