George Eliot

George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, was a well-regarded novelist, poet, and journalist of Victorian England. Her works tapped into a stark, sometimes bleak, realism--both in the worlds she created for her characters as well as their psychology and emotional struggles within that world. Eliot gained fame through her seven novels, many which have been adapted for radio, stage, or screen. Her most autobiographical novel is The Mill on the Floss, which deals with small-town persecution against a free-thinking young woman. The novel was adapted for the stage by contemporary playwright Helen Edmundson.