The perfect wife"" Disraeli repeatedly termed her, his little Mary Anne, who won his heart and loyalty and who never lost faith that one day he would be Prime Minister. This is Mary Anne Evans' story -- from her girlhood, ekeing out the family finances by running a millinery shop in Clifton, near Exeter, to her achievement in making her first husband, a fox hunting and fishing squire, Wyndham Lewis, an M.P., and with his death, marrying in due time the colorful, controversial Benjamin Disraeli, her Parliamentary Protege, whose career was shaped to the ambition of both of them. A woman of no culture and small education, Mary Anne had native wit, courage, drive and charm for the gentlemen (though the ladies could scarcely keep their tongues off her). She emerges three dimensional -- against the background of the Regency of the Georges and the early years of Queen Victoria, a background skillfully drawn so that its flavor is fully savored. Whether the American public interest may flag a bit over the political skirmishes, time will tell. Doris Leslie has been writing successful and authentic historical fiction for some years.