Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

The Abingdon Book Group read this historical fiction book for their May meeting. There is a wonderful write up of the book posted by Elizabeth on Friday, October 31, 2008 that can be retrieved through a search or through the archives. Suffice to say that this novel concerning the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright & his lover, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, is a wonderful book group read. There are so many topics to cover including, infidelity, feminism, the roles and expectations of women in the early 1900s, being true to oneself & what that means, how genius covers many faults, & much more. Several of the group had done some online research into the background of the story & this led to a discussion of the difficulty in determining what may or may not be factual. We thought this author gave her book an authentic flavor of the characters, the events, & the period. Her narrative was detailed & descriptive. No matter the personal views of the group we all thought the story was the most terrible tragedy.

We are going to be very interested to see what Nancy Horan writes next.

Here are some links for further information.

Random House author site
http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/lovingfrank/

Photos of Frank and Mamah
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/PhotoWrightPortraits.htm

Book Group Discussion Guide
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_L/loving_frank1.asp