What Was George Eliot's First Novel?

George Eliot (real name Mary Ann Evans) had already published a number of stories and sketches when she wrote her first full-length novel, "Adam Bede" in 1859. Set in the late 18th century, the novel describes the love of Adam Bede, a young carpenter, for the pretty, vain Hetty Sorrel. Hetty is seduced by the local squire, Arthur Donnithorne, who abandons her. She then agrees to marry the loyal Adam, but before the wedding discovers that she is pregnant. She runs away to look for Donnithorne, but fails to find him and the baby dies. Hetty is arrested and charged with infanticide. In prison she is comforted by her cousin, Dinah Morris, a lay preacher, and manages to accept her eventual fate of transportation (changed from hanging thanks to Donnithorne's intervention) with resignation. In the end Adam marries Dinah, who has long loved him in secret. His brother Seth, who loves Dinah, nobly supports this.