Patricia Duncker’s new novel arrived on my desk at the best possible time because I was halfway through re-reading Daniel Deronda and Sophie and the Sibyl is about its author, George Eliot. The main plot line is about how Eliot fascinated and intrigued her German publisher, Max Duncker (who really existed, and really did have the same name as the novel’s author). It’s also about Max’s stormy relationship with his wife, Countess Sophie Von Hahn who (in this novel) serves as a model for Gwendolen Harleth, the heroine of Daniel Deronda and arguably Eliot’s most splendid character.   Then there is a painter called Hans Meyrick (the name of another character in Daniel Deronda) and he has used, as his model for Titania, a young prostitute whom Max has als