Nancy HoranReseñas

“Ellen was arguing that women’s energy should be used for child rearing, that suffragists were wrongheaded to focus so intently on jobs and equal pay when motherhood was their legitimate work. For a woman to rush out seeking men’s work was to abandon her post by the cradle as the shaper of the human race. Far better, Ellen argued, that the emancipators worked toward rewarding and enhancing the job of ‘mother.’” This quote from the text describes the thinking of Ellen Key, a Swedish feminist writer in the early 1900s. Mamah Borthwick, protagonist of Loving Frank, translated some of Key’s work into English and considered Ellen a mentor. Mamah was a real person in this fictionalized history, and the book follows her passionate love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright starting in 1909.

Though Ellen was a mentor, Mamah disagreed that motherhood should be her life’s vocation. In fact, she left her young children and her husband to pursue her dreams of being a writer and translator. Of course, she also sought to travel with Wright and experience his architectural world. She continues to value her lifestyle, even though the press scandalized her living as an unmarried partner to Frank. She values a new morality that allows women to be strong, career-oriented, independent, and cultured. After a considerable time, Mamah regrets leaving her children and negotiates an agreement with her ex-husband to see them for a few weeks each summer.

The story follows Mamah and Frank as they travel from Chicago to Europe and back to Wisconsin, where they live together in the famous Taliesen. Mameh valued freedom over the traditional female roles of her time. She expresses her philosophy with confidence. Frank Lloyd Wright valued her strength and intellect as a woman. Unsurprisingly, people are still writing about her one hundred years after her death.

The novel begins in 1909 where Ana Ferreira is attending a birthday celebration of Abraham Lincoln. This is just a year after the Springfield Race Riot in 1908, where mass racial violence was committed against African-Americans in Illinois. This riot was a catalyst for the formation of the NAACP, which organized to work on civil rights of African Americans. A white angry mob protesting the suspected assault on a white woman by a black man erupted into violence. The story proceeds to describe the journey of Ana Ferreira and her family from Madeira, Portugal to Springfield, Illinois in 1849.

Ana was only 9 years-old when her family escaped religious persecution in Madeira, Portugal. Emmanuel and Genoveva Ferreira settled in a small Portuguese refugee community in Springfield, IL with their children Beatriz, Ana and Joao. In Portugal, the Catholics terrorized the Presbyterian converts forcing them to flee. Ana makes friends with Callie Patterson, a free black girl who still endures prejudice in her daily life which Ana finds confusing. In 1851, Ana goes to work at the age of 14 to work for Mary Todd Lincoln helping to care for her children Tad and Willie since her husband Abe traveled a lot. He was a lawyer and politician who eventually became the 16th and first Republican President of the USA.

The author relies on historical facts to present her perspective of what it was like to work in the House of Lincoln. This is presented from the view of Ana experiencing everyday life during the tumultuous time before the American Civil War outbreak in 1861. Ana learned about slavery and racial prejudice from her friendship with Callie which wasn't too different from the religious prejudice from which her family fled. This is a good read for history fanatics looking for a more personal "view" of what it might have been like during this time period.

I liked this novel, which is centered on Springfield, Illinois, from the 1840s to early 1900s, and the community which called that place home. Abraham Lincoln looms large within this community, but this portrayal is somewhat different as the reader sees him interacting with a range of people and grappling with struggles at home. Those people, who include immigrants, Underground Railroad operators, free Blacks, and more form a key piece of this novel, which is focused on community. There is also a disheartening piece, as the novel traces the history of the debates leading up to the Civil War to the race riots which became a feature of American life in the early 20th century.

I was interested to read this as I'm heading to Chicago soon and viewing a number of FLW buildings. This book fictionalised the relationship between FLW and Mamah Borthwick. While the book was interesting it didn't paint FLW in the best light. A flawed genius I would say. I did find the book interesting but wouldn't rate it as a brilliant book.

Very,very moving story about the perniciousness of racism in America. Starts off as not the best written book but by the end the horror and disgust is so overwhelming that It becomes a very important book to read.

This book of historical fiction was an enjoyable read that gives us an insight into Abraham Lincoln's life in Springfield, Illinois, the political machinations of the time and the growing divide between the Northern States and the Southern States. We witness these events through the eyes of a young Portuguese religious refugee immigrant from Madeira named Ana Ferreira, who goes to work in the Lincoln household after her education is complete.

Through Ana's eyes we learn of the dangers of the Underground Railroad that Ana and her friend witness firsthand. The accounts of the atrocities committed at the hands of the slave hunters and the terrors wreaked by the Ku Klux Klan who ruled the area prior to the Civil War is hard to read; but it is very important to know the history and horrors of the slave trade.

We learn much about the inhabitants and logistics of Springfield as well, as Ana becomes familiar with her new town. Ana's family life is weaved into the storyline throughout....Her father who immediately embraces his new town and country, her mother who over time grows more and more depressed because her heart is still in her homeland, culture and religion of her childhood; before she and her husband converted to the new religion that got them expelled from the country that her heart will always remain in.

Ana comes to know the Lincolns very well, as she watches over their boys and does household chores. Abraham Lincoln is rarely home, but when he is the house if full of the laughter of he and the boys. He is often gone on long circuit rides as a lawyer at first, and later, of course, on the campaign trail. Mary Lincoln is a very complex person, as Ana discovers. She is kind but often unreasonable and she and Abraham have many quarrels. Some say Abraham is gone from home so much because he simply can't stand her shrewlike behavior. Ultimately, she is faced with one tragedy after another; and I can't imagine anyone holding up under such devastation.

Ana then marries the love of her life, and at the same time Abraham Lincoln has just been elected President of the United States. Quickly the Southern States secede from the Union and the country is embroiled in a bitter, bloody war. The war takes a huge toll on the Lincolns, as it does on everyone, Union and Confederate alike. Families are torn apart and the toll keeps mounting. Ana's husband and brother both join the troops and she and her family watch in helpless anguish as the war rages on.

Although the hope was that President LIncoln's Emancipaton Proclamation and the North's winning of the Civil War would set the country on a course of healing and reunification, and true, permanent civil rights for all; we discover in the book's final chapters that this was not the case. Of course, we know that already; but it is still painful to follow Ana's path to this realization.

Ana is the perfect heroine for this story, as she is very astute and likeable and easy to grow close to. Through thick and thin, the good and the evil, she stays her course and lands on her feet.

Ana is a young lady working in the Lincoln household. She is there to help Mary with all her children. But Ana is very intelligent and she takes in a lot of her surroundings. She witnesses a lot of secrets…like the Underground Railroad. This throws her and her good friend into danger.

This story follows Ana and the Lincolns. And it does encompass a great deal of the history, so I won’t dwell on what you know. But this is a complex, well researched tale. From racial issues, family squabbles all the way to the White House, this story encompasses it all! I learned a great deal in this novel. This does have a large amount of politics, of course. But, I love how the author portrays Lincoln as a man, husband and father more than a politician.

And Mary Lincoln! I knew a little, but I had no idea about the problems she had with her family during the war or how her life ended. It was not easy, that’s for sure!

Need a good historical fiction tale…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

11-year-old Ana Ferreira and her family arrived in Springfield, IL in 1851 from Portugal with the same dreams of most immigrants to live free and happy lives. In The House of Lincoln, author Nancy Horan uses Ana to frame the pivotal years of U.S. history surrounding the Civil War. Following Ana and her relationships throughout her life enables Horan to explore many themes and events including racism, war, and reconstruction. The narrative also includes sections focused on Mary Todd Lincoln who Ana works for, and a black family Ana grew up with who were active in the underground railroad. Readers who enjoy historical fiction will find The House of Lincoln an engaging story about the Civil War period with interesting details about the Lincolns and Springfield.½

Thoroughly enjoyable read that highlights the life of one woman in the early 20th century who was torn between being a wife and mother or spending her life with the brilliant, volatile man she fell in love with, Frank Lloyd Wright, and pursuing her own intellectual interests. This book is extremely well written and propels you into the moral dilemmas faced by Wright's mistress.

I appreciated learning about the lives of both Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick, his partner until her murder at age 45. The times, attitudes, and prejudices were presented well. I would have liked more background on the villain, as I believe there are many of the same issues today as there were in the U.S. in 1914. The feminist ideas were also an interesting history of the movement both here and abroad.½

bookclub book

At 35 Fanny has left her philandering husband in San Francisco and set sail for Belgium with her three children and nanny in tow. Her goal was to study art and to pursue her own desires. Not long after her arrival, tragedy strikes and she and the children go to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from her sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior. Fanny is reluctant at first, but eventually falls in love with Stevenson. Thus, begins a fierce love affair that spans two decades and the globe.

Distraught from a failing marriage, Fanny packs up her children and visits Europe, where she makes the acquaintance of Louis Stevenson, who is quickly enamored with her. But is Fanny willing to throw away her old life for a struggling writer?

This book is a historical fiction based on the lives of two real people -- the rather famous author Robert Louis Stevenson and his less famous love interest. This is the same formula Horan used for her book Loving Frank, which I found more compelling than this one.

While this book certainly had its moments that could captivate, there were parts that felt rather plodding and/or repetitive. And when it comes down to it, Fanny and Louis's lives just weren't quite as interesting as that of Mamah and Frank Lloyd Wright.

In the end, this was fine enough read for those who really enjoy historical fiction and/or have a special interest in Stevenson and his works/life.

book club a long time ago dawn whitelaw interested

Fascinating story. Even though I have admired Frank Lloyd Wright I never knew the sad story of Taliesin.

Book about Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, and his wife. Interesting, but didn't warm up to characters. I did cry @ end though. Wouldn't recommend.

As someone who wed at the Nineteenth Century Woman's Club and lived among Frank Lloyd Wright's commissions, I appreciated the writer's imagining of Mamah Borthwick Cheney's world and the pain that must have attended her attraction to Oak Park's most famous resident. One implicit 21st-century parallel was not imagined: The publisher's website reproduces Chicago Tribune clippings from 1909 that suggest that the yellow press was alive and primping for its tabloid future.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky is the story of Fanny Van de Grift and her husband, author Robert Louis Stevenson. It's an enthralling biography of two extraordinary lives. Fanny is an American, married to a philanderer who she left with her children to live in France when she meets Robert Louis Stevenson, eleven years her junior and not famous yet. Despite the obstacles, the two fall in love and once Fanny gets a divorce, they marry. Due to Louis' (the name the family uses) health problems, they travel widely, looking for a place where his lungs might not suffer, while his fame grows with books such as Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They settled finally in Samoa where both are buried.
They lived fascinating lives from the Wild West of America to the highlands of Scotland, Paris to the islands of the Pacific. They knew all sorts of famous people from the art and literary world. Ms. Horan is able to fairly depict both the good and bad of their characters using letters and diaries in a very readable format. I really loved their story.

Such mixed feelings about this book. It was an interesting perspective on Frank Lloyd Wright’s persona life but he and Mameh Cheney were both selfish and unlikeable characters. Things would have played out differently in a different time if Mameh hadn’t had to make the terrible choice between her children and a life of her own with the man she loved.

I received a free ARC of this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaways. This book is a fictional account of the romance of Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne that really brings them to life. Fanny is older, married to a cheating husband and grieving a dead son. Louis is unsure of his future, sickly and smitten at first sight. Horan allows the reader to follow the Stevenson's through their ups and downs as they travel the world looking for inspiration and relief for Louis' health problems, theirs is a fascinating if unconventional love story. I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would, the research that the author did preparing for this book really gave the characters and their world depth and this drew you into their story.

Interesting but overlong. Mamah Borthwick's story is so extraordinary she should be better known. Don't do any research about Mamah if you don't already know her story. The final part of her life and this book are...shocking.

I started this book knowing almost nothing about Frank Lloyd Wright or the women who loved him. It seemed like an interesting premise - here was a woman who was his mistress and this was a story about her life loving Frank. I recommended our book group read this one for February.

Mamah Borthwick Cheney was an educated feminist who spoke many languages and also had a job translating Ellen Keys' works from Swedish into American English. Although she is married, she enters into a passionate love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect who built her house and many others in the Chicago area. This seems to me to be a well researched novel based on historical facts.

The novel flowed well and was an easy read which I appreciated. A lot of the book deals with Mamah's feelings about leaving her children and also about the scandal of divorce and running away with a married man. They were front page news for a time. Although this would be mentioned by People magazine nowadays, divorce is much more common. Still, the issues of feelings about the children remain the same and if you're famous, the paparazzi can be relentless and everything you say can be twisted in the press.

Reading this, I wondered how much was made up and how much was historical. My copy had a very good author interview and some background to the book at the end. There were also some good book group questions such as how this translates to today's day and age, discussing how a woman can be her own person yet still be wife and mother while juggling a career and following her heart.

I didn't know anything about Mamah and Frank's life. I was close to the ending when we discussed the book at book group and there were spoilers galore! I didn't expect that ending and I finished it up the next day after having already heard about the ending and discussing it. Let's just say - Wow.

Well written guess-work at the personal lives of Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife/muse/collaborator Fanny. Historical fiction a la Loving Frank and The Paris Wife. Nancy Horan brings personalities to life and captures the time period effectively....some incidences and situations are hard to follow as they are pieced together from journals and correpsondence of the historical figures, but overall well-researched and woven together. Would love to spend an hour with RLS as he is portrayed!

This was a fascinating read. This historical fiction novel tells Mamah Cheney's perspective of her affair with Frank Lloyed Wright. It is a compelling novel which demonstrates the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual which are all issues women still struggle with. It would be a great book group pick.

I am familiar with Nancy Horan's last novel, Loving Frank: A Nove and got swept up with her tale of Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress then companion Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I remember reading and then re-reading that novel since I got so caught up with the story of these two people and wished for them a different ending. Now with her follow-up historical fiction novel she focuses on the relationship between Robert Louis Stevenson and his American wife Fanny van de Grift Osbourne Stevenson.

I am familiar with Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but can honestly say besides reading those two books never looked into Mr. Stevenson's life. Ms. Horan manages to imbue such life into Mr. Stevenson as well as Fanny that for me many times I felt as if I was intruding on private conversations made more real by the description of people, smells, and places.

At first readers are immersed in Fanny's story before it moves forward to the day when she meets Stevenson. Fanny at the time she met Stevenson was estranged from her husband and went to live abroad with her three children in order to study art. I quickly found myself identifying with Fanny just because in that time and place to actually leave one's husband and divorce him was simply not done.

I loved how Horan paints Fanny and Stevenson's marriage and showing readers when one married at that time all you were to hope for as a woman was to be some man's wife. Fanny having different dreams for herself and though she loved Stevenson was often upset (rightfully in my opinion) that she was made to feel as an outsider by his close literary friends.

When we eventually get to the ending I felt similar to how I felt when I finished "Loving Frank" a wish that things had ended differently.

I really do recommend this novel and cannot wait to see what Nancy Horan tackles next in historical fiction.

Please note I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program.