Amazon.com description: Product Description: George Eliot's works are varied and wonderful, and although this is not the book that she's most noted for, it is one that she held most dear. It is a "no-holds barred" autobiographical account of her own life. George Eliot's real name was Mary Anne Evans, but she used the pen name of George Eliot because society at that time thought it was not correct for women to be authors, and she wanted her books read on their own merits. In this book we read of Maggie Tulliver who was intelligent, imaginative, idealistic and ambitious like George (Mary Anne) herself. The book goes into the continuous conflict between Maggie and her environment, and the frustrations that she encounters in her search for fulfillment and love. George Eliot bared her soul in this novel, but it also contains her trademark wonderful dialogue and characterizations. George Eliot's works are richly and disturbingly illuminating. They certainly do make you think about her and the struggles that she encountered within the moral and religious strictures of her society.