Renowned novelist George Eliot born 200 years ago

George Eliot, one of Britain’s most renowned novelists, was born on this date 200 years ago. The author of Middlemarch, described by Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people", threw herself into the political, theological and philosophical life of the Victorian era, and scandalised society by living out of wedlock.

Born Mary Ann Evans on Nov 22, 1819, Eliot embarked on her writing career at the relatively mature age of 32, working for the Westminster Review, a radical London periodical. In 1859, her first novel, Adam Bede, was published to critical acclaim and she went on to produce a further six further titles, including The Mill on the Floss (1860) and her most famous work, Middlemarch, which was published in eight installments between 1871–72. Her books were celebrated for their realism and insights into the messy complexity of human relationships.

Mary Ann, also known as Marian, adopted the male pseudonym "George Eliot" to retain her anonymity. From 1853 she was romantically involved with a married man, the writer George Henry Lewes, and although he was separated from his wife, their relationship was regarded as improper. Eliot was also sensitive about her physical appearance, her long, pale face having been described as "horse-like". Her pen-name allowed her novels to be judged on their own merits, rather than focusing attention on both her awkward social position and unconventional looks.

Lewes died in 1878 and in May 1880 Mary Ann married John Cross, 20 years her junior, finally becoming a respectable married woman at the age of 61. But the marriage was short-lived – she became ill within months and died on Dec 22 of the same year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, George Eliot was extremely wary of being photographed, but the National Portrait Gallery in London holds most of the few known images of her, five of which are included in an exhibition marking the bicentenary of her birth.