Mary Ann Evans, who published under the pen name by which she is still widely known, George Eliot, was one of the greatest novelists of the Victorian era. Prior to writing such canonical works as Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss, Eliot worked as a professional writer and edited The Westminster Review -- a very unusual role for a woman at the time.
Though not an outspoken feminist, she was willing to buck social norms. Her longest relationship, with the married writer George Henry Lewes, scandalized society; he was unable to obtain a divorce from his wife, so they chose to live together out of wedlock.
Their arrangement lasted from 1854 until his death in 1878, and despite being an intellectual himself, he was very supportive of Eliot’s writing and aided her in her work. She wrote all of her seven acclaimed novels during their 24 years of cohabitation.
*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/02/beach-reads-summer_n_7699708.html?ir=Women&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046
