“ Our deeds determine us as much as we determine our deeds.” Eliot (1819 – 1880)

Mary Anne Evans was born in 22 November 1819, in the South Farm, Arbury Hall, Neneaton, in England. Eliot's birthplace at South Farm, Arbury

Her father was a carpenter who rose to be a land agent. When Eliot was a few months old, the family moved to Griff, a 'cheerful red-brick, ivory-covered house', and there Eliot spent 21 years of her life among people that she later used in her novels. She was educated at home and in several schools, and developed a strong evangelical character.

However, later Eliot rejected her dogmatic faith. When her mother died in 1836, she took charge of the family household. In 1841 she moved with her father to Coventry, where she lived with him until his death in 1849.

After age sixteen, Eliot had little formal education. The other important early influence in her life was religion. She was brought up within a narrow low church Anglican family.

When she was 21, Evans and her father moved near Coventry. The closeness to Coventry society brought new influences into her life and later on into her writing.

Eliot's first collection of tales, SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE, appeared in 1858 under the name George Eliot- a male name. In those days writing was considered to be a male profession.

She wrote several novels and poetry. She also translated books into English. The characters in her novels are people who influenced her life like: her father, her first husband and friends from the Coventry.

She got married twice but she had no children.

Eliot died On 22 December 1880 at the age of 61 in London.

The Victorian Period revolves around the political career of Queen Victoria. She was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901 (which put a definite end to her political career). A great deal of change took place during this period-brought about because of the Industrial Revolution; so it's not surprising that the literature of the period is often concerned with social reform.

Writers associated with the late Victorian Period include: George Meredith ( ), Gerard Manley Hopkins ( ), Oscar Wilde ( ), Thomas Hardy ( ), Rudyard Kipling ( ), A.E. Housman ( ), and Robert Louis Stevenson ( ). It was a time of change, but also a time of GREAT literature!