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The Honeymoon: A Novel of George Eliot
Based on the life of George Eliot, famed author of Middlemarch, this captivating account of Eliot's passions and tribulations explores the nature of love in its many guises
Dinitia Smith's spellbinding novel recounts George Eliot's honeymoon in Venice in June 1880 following her marriage to a handsome young man twenty 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 twenty-six years. Eliot was bereft: left at the age of sixty to contemplate profound questions about her physical decline, her fading appeal, and the prospect of loneliness.
In her youth, Mary Ann Evans--who would later be known as George Eliot--was a country girl, considered too plain to marry, so she educated herself in order 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 different kinds of love, and of the possibilities of redemption and happiness even 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.
Dinitia Smith's spellbinding novel recounts George Eliot's honeymoon in Venice in June 1880 following her marriage to a handsome young man twenty 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 twenty-six years. Eliot was bereft: left at the age of sixty to contemplate profound questions about her physical decline, her fading appeal, and the prospect of loneliness.
In her youth, Mary Ann Evans--who would later be known as George Eliot--was a country girl, considered too plain to marry, so she educated herself in order 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 different kinds of love, and of the possibilities of redemption and happiness even 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.
432 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2016
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1967 people want to read
About the author
Dinitia Smith
12 books35 followersDinitia Smith is the author of four novels, The Hard Rain, Remember This, The Illusionist, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and most recently, The Honeymoon. Her stories have appeared in numerous publications, including The Hudson Review. She has won a number of awards for her writing, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. Until recently, Smith was a cultural correspondent for the New York Times, specializing in literature and the arts. She has taught at Columbia University and New York University. She currently lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
February 11, 2018
Inspired to read this by my 2018 "Book a day" calendar, The Honeymoon is the story of the author George Elliot's (real name Marian Evans) marriage to John Walter Cross when she was 60 years old and he 40. Since not much is known about Cross or their married life the author imagines a scenario for the couple in what was to be the last year of her life.
The book mostly made me sad. I began by thinking good for her, she was a daring woman for the era, living with the writer George Henry Lewes for much of her adult life without being married, which was scandalous. Lewes was already married you see, with a wife and 3 sons, but his wife also had lots of children with a friend of theirs, Thornton Hunt. Elliot married Cross after her beloved Lewes died. She did not survive his death for long and had only a year with Cross. The author surmises that it was mostly a happy year, but Elliot had many crosses to bear with Cross.
The book mostly made me sad. I began by thinking good for her, she was a daring woman for the era, living with the writer George Henry Lewes for much of her adult life without being married, which was scandalous. Lewes was already married you see, with a wife and 3 sons, but his wife also had lots of children with a friend of theirs, Thornton Hunt. Elliot married Cross after her beloved Lewes died. She did not survive his death for long and had only a year with Cross. The author surmises that it was mostly a happy year, but Elliot had many crosses to bear with Cross.
July 25, 2017
What Inner World?
Dinitia Smith begins her book with the couple's arrival in Venice. An understandable error by the hotel manager, assuming that Marian's new husband Johnnie Cross is her son, casts a pall over their first evening, and Marian lies alone in bed, thinking back on her life. This is the cue for twenty pages about her childhood. The next day, the couple visit a remarkable number of the sights of Venice, and attend a concert. Then come another forty pages of life-story, this time covering her young adulthood, her prodigious reading, her growing religious doubts, and her first experience of sex (with a married man indeed). As a popular biography of the future author, this is not bad; Evans would live most of her life in monogamous adultery with a married man (George Lewes), and her intellect made her a formidable figure in literary circles long before she became a novelist. But, in Smith's writing, everything is told, narrated, even her feelings; we never get to sense these feelings for ourselves, to experience in our nerve-ends that tingling recognition of a fellow human soul. Smith's prose is solid, but too solid, even when talking about matters of emotion. The "inner world" she wished to depict is simply not there.
*Went on for ever.
This is a novel, a product of my imagination inspired by the life and writings of George Eliot. It is an effort to depict her inner world as she lived out her life.So begins Dinitia Smith's introduction to her novel about the last year and a half in the life of Mary Anne (Marian) Evans who, at the age of sixty, married a man twenty years her junior and traveled to Venice for their honeymoon. It was not a happy occasion, and the novelist known to the world as George Eliot would die at the end of the following year. Among the accolades on the back cover, I paid especial attention to the one by Jay Parini, who, in his novel The Last Station, did much the same for Leo Tolstoy, using his final days as a prism reflecting the complex psychology of this saintly but infuriating man. But Parini takes Tolstoy's career pretty much for granted; he does not attempt to give us a whole life story, merely to explore what happens when the conflicting themes of communal utopianism and interpersonal strife already seen in his novels come to roost in the mind of a very old man.
Dinitia Smith begins her book with the couple's arrival in Venice. An understandable error by the hotel manager, assuming that Marian's new husband Johnnie Cross is her son, casts a pall over their first evening, and Marian lies alone in bed, thinking back on her life. This is the cue for twenty pages about her childhood. The next day, the couple visit a remarkable number of the sights of Venice, and attend a concert. Then come another forty pages of life-story, this time covering her young adulthood, her prodigious reading, her growing religious doubts, and her first experience of sex (with a married man indeed). As a popular biography of the future author, this is not bad; Evans would live most of her life in monogamous adultery with a married man (George Lewes), and her intellect made her a formidable figure in literary circles long before she became a novelist. But, in Smith's writing, everything is told, narrated, even her feelings; we never get to sense these feelings for ourselves, to experience in our nerve-ends that tingling recognition of a fellow human soul. Smith's prose is solid, but too solid, even when talking about matters of emotion. The "inner world" she wished to depict is simply not there.
There was a swirl of young men around her now, young men unlike any she'd ever known, brilliant people, people who, like her, read different languages, and knew philosophy, mathematics, and science. They seemed fascinated by her learning, so unusual for a woman, and by the way she fearlessly challenged them. She was conscious that she made her voice low and musical. She felt herself opening up to them in a slow, almost painful way, as if she were a bud whose petals were being inexorably forced apart by sunlight and warmth. What did it mean that these men loved to talk to her? Were they drawn to her as a woman? Or was she simply like another man to them?I persevered for 120 pages before abandoning this book. I could not bear to think what Smith's explanatory approach would do with the psychological subtleties that Eliot herself was to explore in Middlemarch or the passions of Daniel Deronda. If you want to know about the writer's life, read a proper biography. If you want her inner world, read her novels. Though, in checking up some facts in Wikipedia, I came upon this wonderful description of the author by Henry James. Put together with Samuel Laurence's drawing of Eliot below, it brought her far more immediately to life for me than 120 pages of Smith's earnest novel.
She had a low forehead, a dull grey eye, a vast pendulous nose, a huge mouth full of uneven teeth and a chin and jawbone qui n'en finissent pas*…. Now in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes, steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end, as I ended, in falling in love with her. Yes, behold me in love with this great horse-faced bluestocking.
*Went on for ever.
August 19, 2016
The blurb I saw prior to reading this novel said that it was about the late-life marriage of George Eliot to a man 20 years her junior. Although this “honeymoon” framed the novel, the bulk of the book told her entire life story focusing on her romantic relationships. The titular marriage had the feel of historical fiction with its characteristic imagined dialogues and other details. But the longer section that reviewed Eliot’s life prior to the marriage had a more biographical tone. Although this was an enjoyable read, I would have preferred a non-fiction biography over this hybrid.
September 25, 2016
Spellbinding - no. I grudgingly finished this for my book group and it reads like it's meant for teen girls. If you're in the US and you want my copy, I will gladly give it to you free and I'll pay postage.
August 11, 2016
The Honeymoon recounts George Elliot's honeymoon in Venice in June 1880 following her marriage to a handsome young man twenty years her junior. She had met him while recovering from the death of George Henry Lewes, her companion of twenty-six years. She was bereft and questioning her physical decline, her fading appeal to her readers, and the prospect of loneliness. She had been a country girl named Marian Evans and considered too plain to marry. Her mother considered her ugly and told her no man would ever marry her. The mother doted on her two other children and the father pays her extra attention out of a sense of pity for his ugly child. Great emphasis had been placed on her physical appearance and the father educated her in order to secure a livelihood for her. When the book opens, Marian Evans is on her honeymoon and it is evident the relationship is plutonic. They seem uneasy with each other and most of the book is a flashback to earlier times. Inn her younger days, she had several affairs with married men which made her feel lonely and guilty. Her low esteem makes her vulnerable to these men when they showed her attention. She learned several languages including German, Italian, and Hebrew. At parties, the most famous minds were attracted to her because of her sharp mind and intellect. She had her first affair with good family friend and then seduced by her editor. She became the most famous writer of an era where female novelists were objects of wonder, using a male nom de plume. Her novel The Honeymoon explores different kinds of love, and the possibility of redemption and happiness even in an imperfect marriage. The author integrates historical truth with her rendition of Eliot's voice.
April 6, 2018
Readers of Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, or any of George Eliot's ponderous and worthy Victorian novels will perhaps be surprised to discover that their author was a woman of easy virtue. Never pretty, Marian Evans began impressing people with her brains early in her life, and various men, usually of the married, non-believer in monogamy variety, were moved to take advantage of her emotional and sexual neediness. And that is only one of the surprising revelations of Dinitia Smith's novel. Most readers of Eliot know that George Henry Lewes, her husband in all but name, left his legal wife to live with Eliot. So devoted was the couple that she took his first name for her nom de plume. But it is surprising to discover that Eliot's novels were largely products of this relationship. Both Georges were struggling scribes, trying to make a living on journalism, editing, reviews, anything they could. They were both well-known in Bohemian and intellectual circles in Victorian England. But it wasn't until after moving in with Lewes and being encouraged by him to write novels, that Marian Evans became George Eliot, earning worldwide fame, admiration, and wealth. When Lewes died, Eliot was so bereft, she married a friend of the family, twenty years her junior and most likely gay, who, after a frightening incident during their honeymoon, remained devoted to her in the few months left until her death. This is interesting stuff, and though Smith devotes more space to Eliot's co-dependence and insecurity than to her highly regarded intellect, the novel provides intriguing glimpses of a way of life Eliot largely neglected in her fiction -- that of a rags-to-riches writer and her amours.
May 1, 2016
It would be quite simple to categorise this book as a fictionalised biography of Mary Ann Evans. It was much more than that. Smith had written a compelling, absorbing, wonderful novel giving Mary Ann Evans an inner voice, making her as real to us as ourselves. The novel illuminates Eliot’s life (George Eliot is the pen name that she used), but not as we would read it in a biography. She is depicted as a woman who had much love to give. Unfortunately, for much of her life she struggles to find the right person and is told countless times that she looks too plain to marry, so she dedicates herself to the written word and her job. That is, until she meets the man of her life.
Full review can be found here
Full review can be found here
May 24, 2016
I kept forgetting it was a novelized biography. Her story felt very real and I loved this George Eliot every bit as much as I expected to, maybe more.
Fun things I didn't know, or had forgotten, about George Eliot:
(1) She was pretty darn famous in her day. Like, she wore a big lace mantilla (the original oversized sunglasses) so that people wouldn't recognize her. How many authors would you recognize on the street?
(2) She wrote SO. MANY. great novels. Not just The Mill on the Floss, not just Middlemarch, but Adam Bede, Silas Marner (my personal favorite), Scenes of Clerical Life,Daniel Deronda,Felix Holt the Radical... It was really fun to see these put into the context of her life: what order she wrote them in, how she felt about each one during and after writing it, and how she sought out inspiration.
(3) She was the original cougar. By which I mean, she married a man roughly twenty years younger than she was ... when she was about 60 years old.
All in all, this was a lovely read, and I felt an enormous welling of sympathy for Eliot ... or I should say, for Marian Evans Lewes.
I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Fun things I didn't know, or had forgotten, about George Eliot:
(1) She was pretty darn famous in her day. Like, she wore a big lace mantilla (the original oversized sunglasses) so that people wouldn't recognize her. How many authors would you recognize on the street?
(2) She wrote SO. MANY. great novels. Not just The Mill on the Floss, not just Middlemarch, but Adam Bede, Silas Marner (my personal favorite), Scenes of Clerical Life,Daniel Deronda,Felix Holt the Radical... It was really fun to see these put into the context of her life: what order she wrote them in, how she felt about each one during and after writing it, and how she sought out inspiration.
(3) She was the original cougar. By which I mean, she married a man roughly twenty years younger than she was ... when she was about 60 years old.
All in all, this was a lovely read, and I felt an enormous welling of sympathy for Eliot ... or I should say, for Marian Evans Lewes.
I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
April 16, 2016
Dinitia Smith has done more than written a fictionalized biography of George Eliot; she’s recreated the woman and her world. Eliot- the pen name of Marian Evans, taken because woman authors were not taken seriously back then- lives and breathes in these pages.
The story is framed by what is happening in 1880, when Marian is supposed to be enjoying her honeymoon with John Cross in Venice. She’s not enjoying herself, though; Johnnie- who is twenty years younger than Marian- is behaving oddly, manic and not his usual caring and supportive self. During this time, Marian remembers her life, starting with her girlhood.
Eliot started life in a rural middle class family. Considered not to be marriage material because of her plain looks, she was encouraged in her studies as her father felt she could become a governess. Luck had it that she was given the run of a private library where she could indulge her joy in reading and learning. She falls in with free thinkers and polyamorous couples, and has a couple of relationships. But she want more; she wants a relationship where she is the primary, not an extra. Then she and George Lewes fall in love, and they have a happy, 26 year relationship until he dies. The laws would not allow them to marry, even though his wife had bourn multiple children to her lover. Lewes had allowed the children to bear his name- which meant he was aware of her adultery, considered a horrible thing, unlike his own relationship with Marian.
This relationship provided a goad for Marian to start earning real money. While she had done translating and was an editor of many works, she had not written her own pieces. Now she did, and became a best seller. Lewes was an author as well, but not nearly so popular as Marian, and they had to support not just themselves, and Lewes biological children, but his wife’s children by her lover, who contributed not a penny to their upkeep. Thankfully, Marian is able to do this, and put away enough money for the rest of her life, thanks to the management of John Cross. Cross is asked by Lewes to take care of Marian. Whether Lewes ever considered that it would be by marrying Marian, this is how Cross felt he could best do it. He truly loved Marian, although apparently not in a physical way. Smith presents him as possibly being gay, as well as having a hereditary form of unipolar mania.
I felt like I was living in Marian’s world. Smith truly inhabited Marian as a brilliant but insecure woman who was told from day one she was not marriage material because of her looks. I loved the passages describing how she worked and developed her novels before writing them- I’m always a sucker for descriptions of the artistic process. I’m ashamed to say I’ve not read Eliot’s work- something I’ll fix soon- but I was very impressed by her writing procedure and the amount of research that went into her novels.
The author also did a huge amount of research, going into mountains of letters written by and to Eliot and others. Some of her lines are lifted straight from Eliot’s own words. She also examined biographies not just of Eliot but of the people in her life, as well as reading Eliot’s work, some of which, while fiction, is also semi-autobiographical. It’s a solid story as well as an absorbing one.
The story is framed by what is happening in 1880, when Marian is supposed to be enjoying her honeymoon with John Cross in Venice. She’s not enjoying herself, though; Johnnie- who is twenty years younger than Marian- is behaving oddly, manic and not his usual caring and supportive self. During this time, Marian remembers her life, starting with her girlhood.
Eliot started life in a rural middle class family. Considered not to be marriage material because of her plain looks, she was encouraged in her studies as her father felt she could become a governess. Luck had it that she was given the run of a private library where she could indulge her joy in reading and learning. She falls in with free thinkers and polyamorous couples, and has a couple of relationships. But she want more; she wants a relationship where she is the primary, not an extra. Then she and George Lewes fall in love, and they have a happy, 26 year relationship until he dies. The laws would not allow them to marry, even though his wife had bourn multiple children to her lover. Lewes had allowed the children to bear his name- which meant he was aware of her adultery, considered a horrible thing, unlike his own relationship with Marian.
This relationship provided a goad for Marian to start earning real money. While she had done translating and was an editor of many works, she had not written her own pieces. Now she did, and became a best seller. Lewes was an author as well, but not nearly so popular as Marian, and they had to support not just themselves, and Lewes biological children, but his wife’s children by her lover, who contributed not a penny to their upkeep. Thankfully, Marian is able to do this, and put away enough money for the rest of her life, thanks to the management of John Cross. Cross is asked by Lewes to take care of Marian. Whether Lewes ever considered that it would be by marrying Marian, this is how Cross felt he could best do it. He truly loved Marian, although apparently not in a physical way. Smith presents him as possibly being gay, as well as having a hereditary form of unipolar mania.
I felt like I was living in Marian’s world. Smith truly inhabited Marian as a brilliant but insecure woman who was told from day one she was not marriage material because of her looks. I loved the passages describing how she worked and developed her novels before writing them- I’m always a sucker for descriptions of the artistic process. I’m ashamed to say I’ve not read Eliot’s work- something I’ll fix soon- but I was very impressed by her writing procedure and the amount of research that went into her novels.
The author also did a huge amount of research, going into mountains of letters written by and to Eliot and others. Some of her lines are lifted straight from Eliot’s own words. She also examined biographies not just of Eliot but of the people in her life, as well as reading Eliot’s work, some of which, while fiction, is also semi-autobiographical. It’s a solid story as well as an absorbing one.
December 4, 2016
I love historical fiction, but this book ultimately fell flat. The author had great raw material, but the story never seemed to come alive. The characters were more like cardboard cutouts than people.
December 6, 2021
George Eliot's marriage near the end of her life to a significantly younger man is something of a mystery - why did she choose to marry and what happened on the couple's honeymoon? This novel attempts to explain what the couple experienced in their brief marriage and place it in the larger context of Eliot's life. I've enjoyed the fiction I've read by Eliot and elements of her stories are apparent in this semi-biographical novel. Moreover, I appreciate the author's attempts to unpack Eliot's relationships and particularly her motives for marrying John Cross. This novel is likely to be appreciated by those intrigued by this nineteenth-century author.
June 14, 2016
This clear-sighted fiction made Marian Evans/George Eliot's biography easy reading, but the danger with these endeavors is that they always invite comparison to the subject's own writing. The novel did inspire a return to MIDDLEMARCH.
January 17, 2018
This book actually really made me want to read everything George Eliot wrote. I really enjoyed this.
October 12, 2020
A wonderful work of historical fiction that celebrates the life of Marian Evans who is best known as the author, George Eliot. The reader becomes privy to her intelligence and sensuality that helped create her books, many of which were reflections of the characters and events that had shaped her life. Marian’s philosophy was quite unconventional for the Victorian Era and she struggled with the results of her actions that caused her to be estranged from her family. The book was beautifully written and captured the spirit of this remarkable woman.
December 4, 2024
Enjoyed very much. Did not know much about George Elliot so don't know how much truth to story.
February 12, 2018
Hats off to Dinitia Smith for writing a most engaging biographical novel. Chronicling George Eliot's marriage to a man 20 years younger than her, when she was 60-years-old herself, this created a magnificent portrait of one of the most important writers of the 19th century. What's more, it's made me want to pick up Eliot's work next.
July 4, 2016
Having never read anything by either George Eliot or Dinitia Smith, it was happenstance that I came to read The Honeymoon, a beautifully written novelization of the life of George Eliot, the pseudonym of Marian Evans,, and specifically of her late life marriage to a much younger man, John Cross. George Eliot’s life occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria, a time of peace, population growth and location, scientific advances and the rise of the middle class.
While the Victorian era is often talked about as prudish, as an unattractive young woman, Marian Evans’ father had invested in having her educated in fear that no one would marry her and that he would have to support her forever. However when she turned sixteen her mother died and she returned home from school to be a housekeeper, but she continued to learn on her own. She had access to a great library which belonged to her father’s employer and became learned in several languages as well as philosophy and history. When she was 21, Marian and her father moved near to Coventry where came in contact with intellectuals such as Herbert Spencer, Robert Owen and Ralph Waldo Emerson. She became great friends with the free thinking Bray family. After moving to London to become the unacknowledged editor of a literary magazine owned by John Chapman, the always needy Marian had a romantic relationship that ended poorly. Chapman lived in an open marriage and lived with both his wife and mistress.
In 1851, Marian met the philosopher George Lewes who was married, but lived apart from his wife. Within three years they decided to live together though Lewes was unable to get a divorce from his wife. They travelled together to Germany where she began to refer to herself as Mrs. Lewes. The center portion of The Honeymoon, though beginning and ending with Evan's marriage to and honeymoon with John Cross, is made of Marian’s life with George Lewes. It was while living with him that she became a novelist and took on the name George Eliot. Both intellectuals, they nurtured each other’s work and Marion even help him with his scientific work.
“All because of him. Without him there would have been nothing. He cosseted her, comforted her, shielded her, waning Blackwood (Eliot’s publisher) that his anonymous writer friend was 'unusually sensitive' and of a 'shy, shrinking and ambitious nature'. "
Following George’s death, Eliot “lived in a dark cocoon, oblivious to anything but her own sorrow.” Eventually as she worked on George’s unfinished manuscript and grew stronger, Marian invited their old friend Johnnie Cross for tea. “He would bring relief from the gloom…” From discussing Dante and walks in the hills, Marian and Johnnie developed a warm relationship, more like that of an aunt and her nephew, but after denying his requests that she marry him, eventually Marian succumbed. Although a leading writer of her time, Eliot seems to have always been in need of a close relationship, one which Johnnie could provide, despite his own weak mental stability.
I plan to put Middlemarch by George Eliot on my to read list.
While the Victorian era is often talked about as prudish, as an unattractive young woman, Marian Evans’ father had invested in having her educated in fear that no one would marry her and that he would have to support her forever. However when she turned sixteen her mother died and she returned home from school to be a housekeeper, but she continued to learn on her own. She had access to a great library which belonged to her father’s employer and became learned in several languages as well as philosophy and history. When she was 21, Marian and her father moved near to Coventry where came in contact with intellectuals such as Herbert Spencer, Robert Owen and Ralph Waldo Emerson. She became great friends with the free thinking Bray family. After moving to London to become the unacknowledged editor of a literary magazine owned by John Chapman, the always needy Marian had a romantic relationship that ended poorly. Chapman lived in an open marriage and lived with both his wife and mistress.
In 1851, Marian met the philosopher George Lewes who was married, but lived apart from his wife. Within three years they decided to live together though Lewes was unable to get a divorce from his wife. They travelled together to Germany where she began to refer to herself as Mrs. Lewes. The center portion of The Honeymoon, though beginning and ending with Evan's marriage to and honeymoon with John Cross, is made of Marian’s life with George Lewes. It was while living with him that she became a novelist and took on the name George Eliot. Both intellectuals, they nurtured each other’s work and Marion even help him with his scientific work.
“All because of him. Without him there would have been nothing. He cosseted her, comforted her, shielded her, waning Blackwood (Eliot’s publisher) that his anonymous writer friend was 'unusually sensitive' and of a 'shy, shrinking and ambitious nature'. "
Following George’s death, Eliot “lived in a dark cocoon, oblivious to anything but her own sorrow.” Eventually as she worked on George’s unfinished manuscript and grew stronger, Marian invited their old friend Johnnie Cross for tea. “He would bring relief from the gloom…” From discussing Dante and walks in the hills, Marian and Johnnie developed a warm relationship, more like that of an aunt and her nephew, but after denying his requests that she marry him, eventually Marian succumbed. Although a leading writer of her time, Eliot seems to have always been in need of a close relationship, one which Johnnie could provide, despite his own weak mental stability.
I plan to put Middlemarch by George Eliot on my to read list.
April 30, 2016
Highly readable, very compelling and strangely sad, "The Honeymoon" follows George Eliot (the pen name of Marian Evans) on her one and only marriage trip. Marian is 60 and her husband is 40. She married Johnny Cross following the death of her beloved companion of nearly a quarter century, George Lewes. Johnny and Marian are off to Venice! They've already been mistaken for mother and son a number of times before their arrival, and despite her best efforts, she has been recognized as the most famous novelist in English several times on the train. The honeymoon is off to an uncomfortable start.
That Marian should be on a honeymoon at all, especially after a long and satisfying relationship with Lewes, would surprise many in the small town she grew up in. She was plain, very plain, plain to the point that her father allowed he to be educated far beyond the average female. Her own brilliant mind took care of the rest, leading her to explore philosophy, history, theology, and bringing her into the circle of other brilliant, free-thinking, people. She is a woman of passion and physicality and her heart is repeatedly battered when her lovers move on to more physically attractive women. She struggles for money. She grows older and begins to think that she will never know the love she craves.
Then she meets George Lewes. They can never marry--he has a wife who has a number of children by him and his best friend--but he and Marian are soul mates and he supports her in everything, helping her with research, serving as editor, first reader, critic, encouraging her to try writing fiction. What a dream relationship! So what is she doing in Venice with a much younger man whose behavior is becoming increasingly erratic?
Nineteenth century English life was hard. People's lives were filled with grief and loss from so many deaths. Unless you were born to money, it was hard to earn it, especially as a woman. Dinitia Smith peels away the layers to reveal Marian's deep humanity, the soul that influenced her work.
Highly recommended.
That Marian should be on a honeymoon at all, especially after a long and satisfying relationship with Lewes, would surprise many in the small town she grew up in. She was plain, very plain, plain to the point that her father allowed he to be educated far beyond the average female. Her own brilliant mind took care of the rest, leading her to explore philosophy, history, theology, and bringing her into the circle of other brilliant, free-thinking, people. She is a woman of passion and physicality and her heart is repeatedly battered when her lovers move on to more physically attractive women. She struggles for money. She grows older and begins to think that she will never know the love she craves.
Then she meets George Lewes. They can never marry--he has a wife who has a number of children by him and his best friend--but he and Marian are soul mates and he supports her in everything, helping her with research, serving as editor, first reader, critic, encouraging her to try writing fiction. What a dream relationship! So what is she doing in Venice with a much younger man whose behavior is becoming increasingly erratic?
Nineteenth century English life was hard. People's lives were filled with grief and loss from so many deaths. Unless you were born to money, it was hard to earn it, especially as a woman. Dinitia Smith peels away the layers to reveal Marian's deep humanity, the soul that influenced her work.
Highly recommended.
May 2, 2016
I went into this not knowing much about George Eliot, apart from the fact that she wrote Middlemarch, Silas Marner, and was pretty famously known to be unattractive. (Poor George Eliot. To grow up hearing that you're too ugly for anyone to marry, so you'd better concentrate on your education so you can support yourself. Just horrible and sad.) Luckily she was also brilliant and pretty resilient, given the number of letdowns she faced, and translated her intelligence into a career as a writer, editor, and translator before she began her work as a novelist, which is what would make her famous. And she also found a lifelong love in George Lewes, so there.
This book is ostensibly about her honeymoon for her late-in-life marriage to a man 20 years her junior. We're introduced to her when she's already 60 years old, and then see the rest of her life through her remembrances over the course of her honeymoon. Dinitia Smith has made George Eliot feel very real to the reader, and she comes across as both sympathetic and inspiring. Through her we get to see London, the English countryside, Germany, and of course Venice, the site of her honeymoon. She was a woman who lived a remarkable and unconventional life, despite that fact that many of her views were distinctly Victorian. If you're a fan of George Eliot's novels you certainly won't want to miss this, but I'd also suggest that anyone who's interested in Victorian society or biographical fiction also give it a try. It's an absorbing book, and it makes me feel motivated to pick up some Eliot, who has always intimidated me in the past.
This book is ostensibly about her honeymoon for her late-in-life marriage to a man 20 years her junior. We're introduced to her when she's already 60 years old, and then see the rest of her life through her remembrances over the course of her honeymoon. Dinitia Smith has made George Eliot feel very real to the reader, and she comes across as both sympathetic and inspiring. Through her we get to see London, the English countryside, Germany, and of course Venice, the site of her honeymoon. She was a woman who lived a remarkable and unconventional life, despite that fact that many of her views were distinctly Victorian. If you're a fan of George Eliot's novels you certainly won't want to miss this, but I'd also suggest that anyone who's interested in Victorian society or biographical fiction also give it a try. It's an absorbing book, and it makes me feel motivated to pick up some Eliot, who has always intimidated me in the past.
November 5, 2017
Thanks to Netgalley and Other Press for providing a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book about the life of Mary Ann Evans, who was known with the pen name of George Eliot in the literary world. Mary Ann (as I will refer to her in this review) had gained fame with the publication of books like Middlemarch, and Silas Marner. She lived an unconventional life as an unmarried partner to the love of her life, George Henry Lewes. Lewes was unable to divorce his first wife, but despite that, Mary Ann and George cobbled together 24 good years together.
After George died, Mary Ann was struggling emotionally and physically. She is swept off her feet by the decades younger John Cross. They are married about 18 months after Lewes' death. They travel to Venice for their honeymoon where Cross seems to have a mental breakdown.
This story is about all of Mary Ann's life, not just as the book title suggest, the honeymoon. I really enjoyed learning about Mary Ann Evan (George Eliot) and what drove her writing, and her unconventional choices during her lifetime. She managed to cobble a life for herself by standing up for her convictions even when there were real societal and financial consequences to be paid. This is a really well written book that I'd recommend to book lovers, and historical fiction afficionados.
I really enjoyed this book about the life of Mary Ann Evans, who was known with the pen name of George Eliot in the literary world. Mary Ann (as I will refer to her in this review) had gained fame with the publication of books like Middlemarch, and Silas Marner. She lived an unconventional life as an unmarried partner to the love of her life, George Henry Lewes. Lewes was unable to divorce his first wife, but despite that, Mary Ann and George cobbled together 24 good years together.
After George died, Mary Ann was struggling emotionally and physically. She is swept off her feet by the decades younger John Cross. They are married about 18 months after Lewes' death. They travel to Venice for their honeymoon where Cross seems to have a mental breakdown.
This story is about all of Mary Ann's life, not just as the book title suggest, the honeymoon. I really enjoyed learning about Mary Ann Evan (George Eliot) and what drove her writing, and her unconventional choices during her lifetime. She managed to cobble a life for herself by standing up for her convictions even when there were real societal and financial consequences to be paid. This is a really well written book that I'd recommend to book lovers, and historical fiction afficionados.
May 16, 2017
This is a historical novel based on the life of George Eliot, the great 19th century writer whose real name was Marian Evans. The bookends of the narrative comprise the honeymoon, in late life, of Evans with a much younger husband, Johnnie Cross. In between, the author takes us through the rather remarkable life of a self-educated woman of powerful intellect who makes her way in the world of literature, yet remains terribly vulnerable as a woman in a man's world. The book explores such themes as physical beauty, or the lack of it, and a woman's confidence to put herself forward in society; marriage as a form of confirmation and security; integrity in the affairs of the heart; as well as many fascinating intellectual pursuits of the real George Eliot as she became the masterful writer of her time. The writing is captivating, and this woman comes alive for us in all her complexity and self-doubt. It is very readable and insightful, both about the times in which she lived, and about the role love plays in any person's life.
September 21, 2017
I was attracted by the marketing materials to buy this fictionalized account of George Eliot’s life. I knew Eliot was a 19th Century writer, but I’ve never read Eliot and certainly knew nothing about her. Although I may now try to read one or more of her works, unfortunately this novel never captured my imagination. There were many passages where I could appreciate Dinitia Smith’s talent and ability to write descriptive, elegant prose, but the characters just never came to life for me. I plodded through the book, unfortunately. I appreciate that a great deal of research was done into the life and surroundings of Marian Evans, aka George Eliot, and I did learn a lot about her and her life and the people who were important to her. But for me, the book remained flat, one dimensional. I’m not sorry that I read it, but it was work. At this point in my life, I prefer a book with characters who capture my heart and mind, then transport me into their lives. I could not get that to happen with The Honeymoon.
December 29, 2017
Enjoyed reading this interpretation of George Elliot's life. I read her books years ago while in college. This book is a reminder how difficult it was for a woman writer to speak in her own voice during the time George Elliot was writing. It was difficult if not impossible to live outside the norms society had set for women.
July 10, 2017
This isn't perfect -- the prose is generally quite good, but occasionally veers into high drama or stiltedness, and Marian Evans/George Eliot's character seems to slip a bit during the titular honeymoon -- but I still couldn't put it down. I read the whole thing in the car on the way home from California, and it made the 12-hour drive feel like six. I'm also excited to check out some of the nonfiction sources that Smith mentions in her afterword.
October 23, 2017
The story of George Eliot. The novel begins on her honeymoon in Venice. She is 60 and he is 40. The story backtracks with her childhood, her long relationship with George Lewes, and her writing. I really enjoyed the story. She was a woman ahead of her time and I really got a sense of her, her relationships and her forward thinking philosophy. Terrific read.
July 1, 2017
Loved reading this book.
What an exquisite book. I love how the author describes in detail how George Eliot researches, then writes each one of her books. I felt such empathy with Eliot and her need for love and her generous and caring nature. I never wanted it to end.
What an exquisite book. I love how the author describes in detail how George Eliot researches, then writes each one of her books. I felt such empathy with Eliot and her need for love and her generous and caring nature. I never wanted it to end.
February 2, 2021
This book is evocative, moving, sad and enlightening. As a long time fan of George Eliot, I feel I know her better now. I very much recommend this historical fiction for lovers of all things Victorian.
September 6, 2017
loved it - made me want to dive into George Elliot novels!
November 25, 2017
this hooked me from the get go.
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