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*A Times, Telegraph, TLS and Prospect Book of the Year*
The best book I''ve read on George Eliot' John Carey, Sunday Times
An exceptional new biography that shows how George Eliot wrestled with the question of marriage, in art and life
When she was in her mid-thirties, Marian Evans transformed herself into George Eliot - an author celebrated for her genius as soon as she published her debut novel. During those years she also found her life partner, George Lewes - writer, philosopher and married father of three. After ''eloping'' to Berlin in 1854 they lived together for twenty-four years: Eliot asked people to call her ''Mrs Lewes'' and dedicated each novel to her ''Husband''. Though they could not legally marry, she felt herself initiated into the ''great experience'' of marriage - ''this double life, which helps me to feel and think with double strength''. The relationship scandalized her contemporaries yet she grew immeas
