World Before Her

by Deborah Weisgall

Book Overview

Marian Evans--who writes under the pen name George Eliot--has come to Venice on her honeymoon. It is 1880 and she is newly married to John Cross, twenty years her junior. She has come to this city of canals and bridges to start again, to forget the death of her longtime partner, George Henry Lewes--with whom she shared twenty five years of happiness and art. In this new marriage, in this intensely romantic place, can she give herself the happy ending...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547237960
• ISBN13: 9780547237961
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The world before her

Deborah Weisgall has written a riveting tale of two women a century apart. They are connected by place and sense of disconnection in their current marriages. She creates a mood and landscape that draws you in. This is a book you want to read cover to cover in one sitting.

Fascinating

I was captivated by "The World Before Her," and stayed up into the wee hours to finish it. Two women in different eras struggle to balance the urge for personal fulfillment with the security and familiarity of a marriage. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into how George Eliot might have tried to cope with the loss of true (if illicit) love by finally achieving social (if stifled) respectability. The modern-day parallel story explores the effects of having chosen the path of safety earlier in life, with ultimately equally ambivalent results. The descriptions are rich and evocative, and the emotions ring true. And don't miss the raffish Whistler flashing his devil-may-care enthusiasm for life. Highly recommended!

A literary triumph

I adored Deborah Weisgall's dazzling novel, The World Before Her, which has garnered richly-deserved critical praise. This provocative, elegant book tells the intricate and equally compelling stories of two wives a century apart; each woman is an artist - one is George Eliot, the other a modern trophy wife who is herself a sculptor - and their life choices are explored with a breathtaking depth of understanding. Featuring Whistler, Liszt, and the mysteries of Venice, this triumphant book is must-read for anyone interested in literature, music, the fine arts, as well as for anyone who is or has ever been in love and wrestled with its complexities.

Venice in Love

This is a stunningly written book full of evocative images and intriguing characters w/ 2 compelling love stories. Weisgall transports us to the Venice of 1880 w/ the still wounded Eliot, her Johnnie on her arm but her George in her heart. We watch her cope w/ falling out of love. Caroline in the Venice of 1980 is trying to extricate herself from a controlling older husband and we watch her fall in love. Middlemarch is in good hands under Weisgall's deft touch. George Elliot comes to life with a wonderful combination of historic facts and creative fiction. This is a fascinating and absorbing read-transformative!

Love in Venice

I started reading this book because of Venice and George Eliot. It seemed like a perfect escape, and it was. Venice, separated by a hundred years...and it was much more than that too. It is beautifully written and gorgeously observed. The novel is two linked stories, told in alternating chapters. The first one is about Marian Evans, who wrote novels under the pen name of George Eliot. She is on her honeymoon with her handsome young husband. The second story takes place a hundred years later when Caroline Spingold, a young sculptor, arrives in Venice with her older husband to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary...so like Casaubon in Middlemarch (Eliot's book). Both women are trying hard to convince themselves that they are happy and love the men that they have married...alas...the novel explores how Marian and Caroline come to terms with the truth of their feelings. It explores the nature of marriage, the rewards and the price of happiness, the problems of love and work for ambitious women. The book is layered with descriptions of Venetian paintings and with melodies that literally rise from the pages. Weaving the magic of Eliot's stories in a gossamar way, Weisgall ignites two lives for the voracious reader, seductive for the romantic. I hope she writes another one soon....