A journalist, novelist, playwright, and actor, Lewes was an unconventional Victorian, friend of Dickens, Thackeray, and Darwin, and author of Life of Goethe. A radical, freethinking Bohemian, he enjoyed an open marriage with Agnes Jervis, causing a scandal by condoning her relationship with his best friend. The first section of the book discovers new facets of Lewes's early life. The middle section discusses his elopement with Marian Evans while the final section concentrates on their emotional and intellectual companionship until Lewes's death in 1878. This section covers the years of Marian Evans's success as George Eliot, the acceptance of their unconventional union in society, and his science fiction work and support for Darwin. Throwing new light on a wide circle of important figures in the Victorian era, this biography draws on new material to illuminate the life of this extraordinary man of letters.