Mary Ann Evans, 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 lived from 1819 to 1880 and published seven major novels that established her as a significant literary figure of her time. Her novels are known for their realism, psychological insight, sense of place, and detailed depiction of the countryside. Her works include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1862–1863), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–1872), and Daniel Deronda (1876). These works have endured as important contributions to English literature. Middlemarch in particular has been highly regarded by subsequent writers and critics. Virginia Woolf described it as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people," while Martin Amis and Julian Barnes have called it the greatest novel in the English language.