Three Famous Couples

Last year, I did a presentation to the Dillsburg Womans Club in which I described three books about three famous American couples.  For those of you who like to read in a series, here are my notes:


Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (2007)
To many of us, Frank Lloyd Wright was the seminal American architect who introduced mission style or prairie style architecture.  Wright built a number of private and public buildings through the United States.  Most of us have toured one or other of them.  In 1903, Wright built a house for a wealthy family in Chicago.  During the project, he and the wife of the homeowner  Mamah  Borthwick Cheney fell in love.  Their adulterous relationship rocked Chicago society.  This novel is a fascinating insight into their relationship and Cheney's struggles to be recognized as a scholar in her own right.  The book's dramatic ending will leave you speechless.


The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (2011)
Ernest Hemingway - either you love him or hate him.  It has been said that Hemingway had a wife for every novel. This is the story of his first wife Hadley Richardson who accompanied him during his years in Paris in the 1920's. As part of the Lost Generation, Ernest and Hadley interacted with such personalities as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein.  The Hemingway's marriage came to a tragic end, but throughout the years of alcohol abuse, womanizing, depression and illness, Hemmingway retained his affection for Hadley and she for him.


The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin (2013)
Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh were the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of their time.  Pursued by reporters and adoring fans, the Lindbergh's lived their lives in the public spotlight.  Charles Lindbergh was the golden boy who was the first to cross the Atlantic in an airplane and who pioneered American aviation. However, their lives took a tragic turn when their baby was kidnapped and murdered. In addition, Lindbergh had a dark side.  He had fathered other children and was a Nazi sympathizer. Anne Morrow was an ambassador's daughter who was an author and pilot in her own right.  Their very public marriage was fodder for tabloids and makes for a very interesting read.