Trum­pet lived in a state of con­fu­sion and suf­fer­ing. She was plagued by con­stant ill­ness, un­ex­plained symp­toms and frus­trat­ing med­ical dead ends.

This week on Book­shelf, I turn to a writer who was way ahead of her time, per­haps even ahead of ours. George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans in 1819 re­ject­ed every con­ven­tion re­quired of a woman of ...