George Eliot And John Cross's Honeymoon Took A Dark Turn

The couple spent their honeymoon in Venice, Italy after being married. In any event, Eliot was aware that something was awry despite the fact that Cross informed his sister in a letter that he was enjoying himself. Her new spouse was losing weight, anxious, and melancholy. Cross leaped from the balcony into the Grand Canal as she was chatting to the doctor she had sent to their hotel room.

A hotel employee and the private gondolier the couple had hired to take them around the canals helped Cross. Eventually, the newlyweds continued their journey, and they remained together until Eliot's passing later that year. His plunge is the subject of ongoing conjecture among historians, who question whether it was a suicide attempt (Cross may have had a personal and familial history of mental illness) or a case of heat-induced insanity. The Honeymoon, written by Dinitia Smith in 2017, is based on the enigmatic event.