The Honeymoon
A Novel of George Eliot
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A captivating reimagining of the life and turbulent marriage of Middlemarch author George Eliot—perfect for fans of The Paris Wife and Lily King’s Euphoria
“A deep dive into love’s turbulent waters, and into the mysterious heart of a person we thought we knew best.” —Vogue
Dinitia Smith’s spellbinding historical fiction novel recounts George Eliot’s honeymoon in Venice in June 1880 following her marriage to a handsome young man 20 years her junior. When she agreed to marry John Walter Cross, Eliot was recovering from the death of George Henry Lewes, her beloved companion of 26 years. Eliot was bereft—left at the age of 60 to contemplate profound questions about her physical decline, her fading appeal, and the prospect of loneliness.
In her youth, Eliot was Mary Ann Evans. A country girl considered too plain to marry, she educated herself to secure a livelihood. In an era when female novelists were objects of wonder, she became the most famous writer of her day—with a male nom de plume.
The Honeymoon explores love in its many forms, and of the possibilities of redemption and happiness in an imperfect union. Smith integrates historical truth with her own rich rendition of Eliot’s inner voice, crafting a page-turner that is as intelligent as it is gripping.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smith's heavy-handed novel imagines the life of the writer George Eliot at age 60, reflecting back to her disastrous Venetian honeymoon with an abusive younger husband. Eliot was born Marian Evans to a rural farm family that encouraged her education after it was decided that her plain looks wouldn't secure her a husband. She becomes interested early on in writing and religion. She falls in with a bohemian, polyamorous crowd and gets her heart broken a few times before meeting George Lewes, the married man who would become the great love of her life. Eliot helms a magazine before running away to Germany with Lewes and returning to America to write the succession of novels that earned her fame and fortune. Lewes begins an avuncular relationship with the very handsome Johnnie Cross, who is 20 years the couple's junior. Following Lewes's death, Cross inexplicably proposes to Eliot, citing his promise to Lewes to care for her. While Cross is for the most part doting and kind, the honeymoon finds him behaving strangely and viciously. Smith's writing is chock-full of exposition and often clunky: " I love him and his sons.' She smiled, saying the names aloud, Charley, Thornie, Bertie.' " Smith (The Illusionist) establishes that Eliot is insecure and painfully aware of how social class and looks can pigeonhole her, but it seems unbelievable that her reaction to Cross's mistreatment would be to worry that her looks and age drove him to it. The book is unsatisfying in that it tells rather than shows, and generalizes instead of teasing out the little details that would have made this book more than an overwrought CliffsNotes version of Eliot's life.
