Drifting Away

Grayscale illustration of a cloaked woman in a small sailboat, sailing out to sea.

On the shore outside Florence, Romola pauses alone beside a small boat as she reflects on the collapse of her marriage and her faith in Savonarola. She lingers in thought, weighing escape and death, before choosing to sail out to sea. "..there was a deep bend in the shore, and a small boat with a sail was moored there. In her longing to glide over the waters that were getting golden with the level sun-rays, she thought of a story which had been one of the things she had loved to dwell on in Boccaccio..” ("Drifting Away", Chapter 61).

Leighton, Frederic (1830-1896)

Swain, Joseph (1820-1909), engraver

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

1863, 1880

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Leighton, Frederic (1830-1896), Drifting Away, George Eliot Illustrations Gallery, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/83577