Any understanding of George Eliot's mature art must begin with an appreciation of the rich, difficult family dynamic out of which it was forged. Her friends and relations understood this, and went into print with their own accounts of the process by which George Eliot's early recollections became the basis, not just for her fiction, but also for her philosophic conservatism. The past - and memory of that past - was the cornerstone on which Eliot believed any chance of social or political progress must securely rest.This set, the fifth collection in the Family History series brings together valuable sources, including manuscript material from letters and diaries which give insights into these crucial influences. A new introduction places the material in its literary and historical context.