When she agreed to marry John Walter Cross, Eliot was recovering from the death of George Henry Lewes, her beloved companion of 26 years. 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 the possibility of happiness even in an 'imperfect' union.
