The World Before Her takes place in Venice with all the beauty, romance and longing that setting evokes. The author juxtaposes the relationship of author George Elliot and her younger husband in 1880 with the relationship of a modern couple. Both wives find themselves in marriages which are not what they expected them to be. The trip to Venice seems to bring out the longing to escape marriages that are confining and do not allow the women to be who they truly are. Despite a century of time that divides the two couples, the issues of love, intimacy, disappointment and desire are still the same.

Submitted by Maria.