George Eliot literary work ever written. In 2015, writers from outside the UK voted it first among all British novels "by a landslide". The various film and television adaptations of Eliot's books have re-introduced her to the wider reading public. George Eliot Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Ann or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels, including "Adam Bede" (1859), "The Mill on the Floss" (1860), "Silas Marner" (1861), "Romola" (1862–63), "Middlemarch" (1871–72),
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