Henry and Clara: A Novel: Amazon.ca: Thomas Mallon: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

This novel is based on the lives of Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris, a couple who were sharing President Lincoln's box at the Ford Theater the evening he was assassinated.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-This novel details the lives of the Rathbones, a young couple who were guests in the president's box at Ford's Theater the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Although Henry and Clara, stepbrother and stepsister, overcame the objections of their socially and politically prominent family to marry, they could never escape the memories of that night at the theater; innuendo, rumor, and guilt dogged them until their lives ended by madness and murder. YAs will be fascinated by this story about ordinary people caught up in an overwhelming historical event. The author's finely drawn characters present insight into American social and family life from the mid 1800s to 1911, as well as a wonderful picture of Washington, D.C., during and after the Civil War. Also, readers will realize that our lives are driven by the sum of all the parts of our experience, including family, relationships, and the times in which we live.
Carol Clark, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
"AND TOMORROW I shall be forty-three years old," whispered Ira Harris while writing down the date, May 30, 1845. Read the first page

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Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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2.0 out of 5 stars So SLOW!, April 26 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Henry and Clara: A Novel (Paperback)

I really tried hard to get into this book; the subject sounded very interesting. I even took another reviewer's advice and skipped ahead to the assasination (after forcing myself through the first third of the book), but try as I might, I couldn't get into this book. The characters were dull and the story boring. I was immediately drawn in by the prologue, but then the story went nowhere quickly. The part about the assasination was interesting, but the monotony quickly took back over soon after. It is unlike me to not finish a book once I'm already halfway into it, but I just can't seem to muster up the desire to stick it out. I think I'll just skip to the epilogue and see what happened during all those dull pages.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Post Traumatic Syndrome, Historical Fiction Style, Jan 11 2004

By

James Tsai - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry and Clara: A Novel (Paperback)

Mallon writes about Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone, the last-minute couple that shared the Lincolns' box at Ford's Theater that fateful night in 1865. Their lives are remarkable beyond this historical footnote, with their scandalous engagement and marriage (they were stepbrother and stepsister raised from a young age ) to the unforunate mental problems of Henry later in life due to the stress of being in the Civil War and also witnessing the murder of Pres. Lincoln.

Mallon does a good job of giving a feeling of decent into madness of a proud family, but lacks a bit in the historical liveliness of the period. The forced mentionings of the presidents of the various eras and the descriptions of witty historical nuances do little to bring the era alive for the era. In fact, the third part of the book could have taken place anytime, anywhere else.

The tale itself is interesting, and gives a tragic and surprising end; it's a shame mallon didn't do the story justice though. Also, a better author's note about what was real and what was not would have been appreciated.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting look at a forgotten episode of history., Dec 16 2003

By

Duchess of Gadsden "hartney" (Overland Park, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry and Clara: A Novel (Paperback)

This is simply one of the best books I have ever read, and I've been recommending it to people ever since I first read it. I've even been known to grab people in bookstores and convince them to buy it.

These are not 20th century people dressed in funny clothes. They are real, live, breathing 19th century people come to life. I think too many of us have read too many bad historical novels or seen too many Hollywood films to recognize the aura of truth when it appears.

The simple facts of Henry and Clara Rathbone's lives are interesting enough. Raised together as stepbrother and stepsister after his mother married her father, they fell in love, and had to battle social conventions to marry. They had the supreme ill fortune to be with President and Mrs Lincoln on that terrible night when the President was assassinated, and forever after Henry Rathbone was blamed for not preventing the murder.. His descent into madness and its terrible effect on Clara and their marriage is well presented.

In the end, what eventually happened to them is revealed. I found myself reading the last thirty or so pages with my mouth open in astonishment. I'd never heard of these two, and yet they were a footnote to history we should all know about.

Thomas Mallon is the rare writer who can bring an era to life. He puts us inside the minds and souls of the people who lived long ago. They are like us, and yet not like us. They grew up and came of age in a completely different world, and he shows us both their similarities and differences to us, to our time.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Plot, Bad Ending
The book, Henry and Clara, written by Thomas Mallon, is about the couple who sat with the Lincolns on the night of Abraham Lincoln's assasination. Read more

Published on April 2 2003 by Lizzie

2.0 out of 5 stars Historical Facts and Modern Perceptions
This is a book of historical fiction, and the author makes it quite plain in his notes that although he used facts where possible, he filled in the many holes in the story with... Read more

Published on Jan 25 2003 by Suzy Beggin