The lifted veil

Imagine that you could see into other people's minds. Would this power be a blessing or a curse? For Latimer, the narrator of "The Lifted Veil", it only brings misery. Because other people's thoughts are often full of jealousy and hate. The one person he cannot read is Bertha. He becomes obsessed with her, convinced that she must be good. But when he finally takes Bertha as his new wife, the horrible truth is revealed. Published the same year as her first novel "Adam Bede", this supernatural novella is unlike anything else George Eliot wrote. A great read for fans of gothic horror. George Eliot, pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans (1819–1890), was an English novelist, journalist and poet. She took a realist approach to storytelling, finding the drama and beauty in the day-to-day existence of England's rural working classes. Her most famous novels include "Middlemarch", "The Mill on the Floss" and "Adam Bede". Eliot's personal life was the subject of some controversy. For over two decades, she lived together with George Henry Lewes, a married man--he was estranged from his wife but never officially divorced. Their relationship offended Victorian sensibilities, but failed to dent Eliot's popularity with readers. The pair are buried side-by-side in London's Highgate Cemetery.