British literature best-loved works are set in the imaginary west country county of Barsetshire, including "The Warden" (1855) and "Barchester Towers" (1857). Trollope's novels portray the lives of the landowning and professional classes of early Victorian England. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans (1819–80) was a major novelist of the mid-Victorian period. Her works, especially "Middlemarch" 1871-2), are important examples of literary realism, and are admired for their combination of high Victorian literary detail, with an intellectual breadth that removes them from the narrow geographic confines they often depict, that has led to comparisons with Tolstoy. George Meredith (1828–1909) is best remembered for
Mary Stewart (novelist) and as a consequence Arthurian and heroic legends regained popularity among a critical mass of readers. Mary Stewart added to this climate by publishing "The Crystal Cave" (1970), the first in what was to become a four-book series later dubbed The Merlin Chronicles. The book placed Lady Stewart on the best-seller list many times throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Mary Stewart (novelist) Mary, Lady Stewart (born Mary Florence Elinor Rainbow; 17 September 1916 – 9 May 2014) was a British novelist who developed the romantic mystery genre, featuring smart, adventurous heroines who could hold their own in dangerous situations. She