Frederick Robert Karl (1927–2004)

Well researched and meaty biography of the woman who got to highest rank of English fiction writing. Eliot was tough, determined and hard working to reach this pinnacle, at the same time as she faced self-doubt, opprobrium for her living with George Lewes and chronic bad health.
She drove a hard bargain with publishers because she was so successful with a new type of novel that veered away from the chronological narrative that preceded her.
A great biography that never flags.

This book contains stories from the mid-19th century up through the mid-20th. An absolutely wonderful book. If you have a liking for British literature, you should read it. I must say though, that I am not nearly as fond of 20th century stories as of earlier. They are too predictably either weird or unhappy. I like to be surprised as to whether my stories will have a happy or unhappy ending.

I agree with the previous reviewer, I am still reading this book several years after starting.

It is however very interesting, if you can only come to terms with the somewhat turgid style
of writing.

A detailed but tedious academic biography now out of style.