In Under This Beautiful Dome journalist and lawyer Terry Mutchler reveals her lesbian relationship with the late Illinois State Senator Penny Severns. The two women shared a deep love as well as a lavish (but clandestine) lifestyle which featured designer clothes, expensive artwork, and exotic vacations. It all came to an abrupt end when Severns died of breast cancer in 1998. During Severns's lifetime the couple could not have legally married, and Severns, who was in denial about her terminal illness, never completed a will. All of the precious mementos, as well as the home the couple shared, went to Severns's dysfunctional family, which refused to acknowledge Mutchler's role as Severns's de facto spouse or let Mutchler take the things Severns would have wanted her to have. This book represents both Mutchler's tribute to her deceased lover and her revenge on the Severns family.

As a book Under This Beautiful Dome could have benefited from tighter editing. As it is, it reads like a fresh-from-the-writers'-retreat rough draft. There are a number of typos and way too many references to mundane activities such as tooth brushing. Some judicious trimming would have resulted in a stronger work. ( )

I was practically sobbing by the end of this book. Mutchler's account of Penny Severns' death was one of the most poignant, meticulous, beautiful descriptions of a lover's death I have ever read - and then to read of her heartless treatment by Severns' father Don and, most egregiously, her twin sister Patty Severns Love, was just heartbreaking. (I name them purposely.)

As soon as I finished it I sent a copy to my two good friends who got married last year - two friends who also had to hide their relationship because it would hurt their careers. How things have changed, and how Patty can still behave this way is beyond my comprehension.

I am so glad Mutchler wrote this book and that it has been covered as it has - I heard her on NPR. In the beginning I thought to myself there was too much self-justification; that she really didn't need to quote Severns' love letters, much less photocopy them; but by the end I understood. The twin who lived tried to keep her sister to herself by claiming the art and the furniture and the house the couple had acquired together. It didn't work. Mutchler, with this book, has taken her lover, her wife, back.

Terry, I salute your bravery and I am happy you have finally found someone you can love openly. ( )