Reader's Ink discussion

What did we think of the significant others?

[For what's it worth, while I have some notes for other questions, I don't want to post all of them and I'm still undecided as to which ones will generate the most discussion with this group. So I'm ending here for the evening but will likely have one or two additional questions posted after I spend a few more hours unnecessarily pondering. In the meantime, feel free to jump in with other topics and other questions.]

One thread of the book begins with Marian Evans Lewes Cross on her honeymoon in Venice with her very virginal husband, twenty years her junior, who she calls Johnnie. Johnnie is virginal and married to an adored Mother surrogate for the usual reasons but his ardent wife looks for the same union of mind and body she shared for twenty five years with George Lewes.

In 1980, Caroline Spingold is in Venice at the behest of her much older and controlling husband, Malcolm, who is afraid she is reclaiming her identity as an artist (she is a sculptor) and moving away from him. The women's stories are as different as the times and circumstances in which they live but both are enthralling.

Out of interest: did anyone else wonder if John Cross (either the real-life or fictional version) was gay?