English literature Victorian England. George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819–1880), was a major novelist of the mid-Victorian period. Her works, especially "Middlemarch" (1871–72), 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. George Meredith (1828–1909) is best remembered for his novels "The Ordeal of Richard Feverel" (1859), and "The Egoist" (1879). "His reputation stood very high well into" the 20th-century but then seriously declined. An interest in rural matters and the changing social and economic situation
Mary Ann Maitland Mary Ann Maitland Mary Ann Maitland (26 January 1839 — 24 February 1919) was a Scottish-born Canadian author of poems, hymns, and short stories. The "Ann" character in Maitland's short story, "Charity Ann: Founded on Facts" ("Godey's Lady's Book", January 1892), provided the background for Anne Shirley's history and adoption in "Anne of Green Gables". Mary Ann Davidson was born in Elgin, Scotland, 26 January 1839. She is a daughter of James Alexander Davidson, the first teacher in the Infant School of Elgin, and Elizabeth Wilson Maitland. She was a maternal granddaughter of the Provost Wilson of that town. Maitland