Mary Ann Evans took three years to write and publish one of her most famous works Middlemarch. The first book was published in December but there would be seven more to follow over a period of time. Each part had characters whose lives interacted with each other in the town. That way readers could have different parts of Middlemarch, but the characters were recurring. Each section cost five shillings each and the books continued to be published throughout the year.

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. edited Gregory Maertz. Broadview Editions. 2004