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From Publishers Weekly
Horan's ambitious first novel is a fictionalization of the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, best known as the woman who wrecked Frank Lloyd Wright's first marriage. Despite the title, this is not a romance, but a portrayal of an independent, educated woman at odds with the restrictions of the early 20th century. Frank and Mamah, both married and with children, met when Mamah's husband, Edwin, commissioned Frank to design a house. Their affair became the stuff of headlines when they left their families to live and travel together, going first to Germany, where Mamah found rewarding work doing scholarly translations of Swedish feminist Ellen Key's books. Frank and Mamah eventually settled in Wisconsin, where they were hounded by a scandal-hungry press, with tragic repercussions. Horan puts considerable effort into recreating Frank's vibrant, overwhelming personality, but her primary interest is in Mamah, who pursued her intellectual interests and love for Frank at great personal cost. As is often the case when a life story is novelized, historical fact inconveniently intrudes: Mamah's life is cut short in the most unexpected and violent of ways, leaving the narrative to crawl toward a startlingly quiet conclusion. Nevertheless, this spirited novel brings Mamah the attention she deserves as an intellectual and feminist. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
In the early 1900s, married architect Frank Lloyd Wright eloped to Europe with the wife of one of his clients. The scandal rocked the suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. Years later, Mamah Cheney, the other half of the scandalous couple, was brutally murdered at Wright's Talliesen retreat. Horan blends fact and fiction to try to make the century-old scandal relevant to modern readers. Today Cheney and Wright would have little trouble obtaining divorces and would probably not be pursued by the press. However, their feelings of confusion and doubt about leaving their spouses and children would most likely remain the same. The novel has something for everyone—a romance, a history of architecture, and a philosophical and political debate on the role of women. What is missing is any sort of note explaining which parts of the novel are based on fact and which are imagined. This is essential in a novel dealing with real people who lived so recently. Block, Marta Segal
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Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tragic Liaison,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Loving Frank: A Novel (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book for rounding out my sense of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who was his lover and sometime soul mate for many years. It's the most pleasant way I know to bring these two powerful people to life in your mind.Most novels deal with romance, hope, and redemption. Loving Frank is quite different because it displays a tragedy based on imagining the relationship between two real people, the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the wife of one of his clients, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, who left her husband and family to live with Wright. Beyond a few scraps of writing, we know little about Mamah Borthwick Cheney other than what a few friends and the excesses of journalists said about her. Even though I've read several books about Wright, I didn't get much of a sense about Mamah until reading this book. I thought that Nancy Horan did a fine job of bringing Mamah to life by imputing reasonable motives to her for the actions she is known to have taken. Frank Lloyd Wright had a reputation for romancing the wives of his clients, but only Mamah left home and hearth for him . . . despite having a comfortable marriage and two children. Mamah appears to have seen this as an opportunity to become a fulfilled person by having a professional (she was a translator of feminist literature) and a personal life (with Frank) that was continually stimulating. Why, then, is this a tragedy? Well, Mamah didn't end up doing nearly as much professionally as she hoped, and Wright was often not around . . . or not behaving as he should have. In addition, Mamah ended up being characterized by the press as a scarlet woman in a way that shamed all of her family and friends. Her leaving her family affected her children and herself in fundamental ways as well . . . the loss was substantial. Relations with her author were also strained. And her life ended in a tragic way. If you want to know more about the real events, I recommend Death in a Prairie House by William R. Drennan. You can visit Frank Lloyd Wright's home in Oak Park, Illinois as it was constituted in 1909 when he left his family to be with Mamah. Her home is also nearby. In addition, you can tour Taliesin near Spring Green, Wisconsin to help you imagine what their life was like. I have been to all three locations and felt that background helped make the book more real to me. In the end, I found myself wondering what Mamah would have to say about her life if she could be an independent observer. Was it worth it? Should she have chosen some other path? Those who are looking for lots of romance between the two will be disappointed in the book. The scenes where both appear are often more about ideas and culture than they are about the relationship. If you have Frank Lloyd Wright on a pedestal because he was a great architect, this book will help you see his feet of clay.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this novel!,
By
This review is from: Loving Frank: A Novel (Paperback)
As someone with a passing interest in the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, this novel stunned me. It is a fictinal account of true events surrounding the long-term affair between Wright and Mamah Borthwick, who, with her husband, commissioned the legendary designer to build their new home. The couple's relationship wreaked havoc on early 20th century mid-west America. Both had young children and the media had a field day.But at the heart of this story is Mamah's struggle to find her identity as a woman in a society that had not yet recognized a women's right to vote. She loved Frank, but her search, and her decision to leave her family, was rooted in her desire to assert her own independence and express her talents as a writer. I must say, there were times I didn't like either of these characters; the price they paid to be together was higher than most would pay, especially concerning their children. But this is the conflict the book explores, and it does so brilliantly. This is a love story, a scandal sheet and a historical overview of modern design and the women's movement. The writer has somehow woven all this together into a very compelling and enjoyable read. I highly recommend "Loving Frank".
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Debut novel I have read since "Across the High Lonesome.",
By
This review is from: Loving Frank: A Novel (Hardcover)
I gave this Debut effort by Nancy Horan a try because of A life long interest in Frank Lloyd Wright. This ambitious work is a fictional accounting of the life of Mamah Cheney. After being hired by Cheney's husband to design a family home, Wright had a scandalous affair With Mrs. Cheney that wrecked both their marriages. This might seem like the plot of a romance novel, but believe me this book is not a romance novel! Cheney is portrayed as an educated woman struggling with her independence against the conventions of a time period when woman were for bearing children and keeping the home fires burning--to be seen but not heard!Frank and Mamah both leave their respective families to live together and travel the world, then eventually settle in Wisconsin. Wright's bigger than life personality is adequately displayed by the author, but the real story here is Maham who lost much in her quest for self realization and also in perusing her love for Wright. Her life is tragically cut short which makes for a difficult ending, still reading about this amazing woman, who was a head of her time makes for fascinating reading.
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