Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She used a male pen name to ensure her works would be taken seriously as a woman writer during a time of gender bias. Some of her most famous novels include Adam Bede (1859) and Daniel Deronda (1876). She had a scandalous personal life, living with married philosopher George Henry Lewes for over 20 years without marrying until after his death, when she married John Walter Cross.

1. 1819 - 1880

2.  She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her
works would be taken seriously.
 Also as her life was very scandalous, many believe the
reason she used different name is simply because she
wanted to keep her privacy.

3.  Birthplace: Warwickshire (1819)
 Parents: Robert and Christina Evans
 Siblings: Christina, born in 1814; Isaac, born in 1816
and twin brothers who survived only a few days into
March 1821.
 Half brother and half sister: Robert (1802) and Fanny
(1805)

4.  Marry Anne was considered rather intelligent.
 Ages 5-9: Miss Latham’s school, Attleborough
 Ages 9-13: Mrs. Wallington’s school, Nuneaton
 Ages 13-16: Miss Franklin’s school, Coventry
 After the age of 16 she started self-educating by being
allowed access to the library of Arbury Hall.

5.  Evans was 16 when her mother died, leaving her to
take care of her father and be a housekeeper.
 When she was 21 her brother Isaac married taking over
the family home. Evans moves to Coventry with her
father.
 There she meets Charles Bray who was a wealthy man
and became intimate friends with him. Also starts
questioning her religious faith.
 Her after dies later on when she was 30.
 5 days after she travels to Switzerland with Bray.

6.  Moved to London with the intent of becoming a writer
and calling herself Marian Evans.
 Contributed essays and reviews for the journal of the
man whom she had stayed with while in London, a
certain John Chapman.

7.  Philosopher and critic met Evans in 1851 and by 1854
they had decided to live together.
 He was married to Agnes Jervis with whom he had had
3 children.
 They travelled to Germany for the purpose of research.
 Evans worked on translation of theological texts.
 They considered themselves married and everybody
else considered them a scandal.

8.  While writing for the journal Westminster Review she
started mocking the way women writers wrote at the
time by writing an essay naming it ‘’Silly Novels by
Lady Novelists’’. (1856)
 Came up with the name George Eliot and decided to
be a novelist.

9.  Adam Bede (1859) – Instant success, everyone wanted to
know who this new writer was.
 Admitting she was Marian Evans Lewes.
 It made a huge shock for her admiring readers but it never
lowered her popularity. 18
 She was completely accepted to polite society in 1877.
 15 years of writing novels
 Daniel Deronda (1876)

10.  George Lewes gets ill and dies in 1878.
 Evans finds solace with John Walter Cross who is
twenty years younger than her.
 She later on married him and changed her name to
Mary Anne Cross.
 John tries to kill himself during their honeymoon but
survives.
 They return to England where Eliot gets a throat
infection which couples with kidney disease and leads
her to death in 1880 at the age of 61.

11.  Even after her death they didn’t let her have a
memorial stone in Westminster Abbev’s Poets’ Corner.
They allowed it one hundred years after.
 Several people claimed to be George Eliot before Mary
Anne came out.
 It is said that after an affair with Evans, famous British
philosopher wrote an essay on repugnancy of ugly
women and all of Evans’ friends knew it was about her.

13. Sorry you had to put up with my accent, Tamara.
Love,Irena