Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

On the all-time favourites list of a couple of people I know, this book is an absolute treat. It’s modern historical fiction, the story of Frank Lloyd Wright’s long term affair with Mamah Cheney, a client, and of how both she and Wright left their families to ‘elope’ to Italy. They returned to the house he built for them in Wisconsin. Mamah is a complex character and of course the writer had to pull together what information she could to develop her character. But I believed wholeheartedly in her. As an intellectual, feminist and translator, who put her principles above the learned conventions of the traditional mother role, she reminded me of many of the firebrand revolutionary women of the time who were prepared to sacrifice anything for their belief in self. I also liked too Horan’s take on Frank Lloyd Wright. I found him utterly believable, indeed many aspects of him recognizable from the several truly creative people I have known closely. This is a wonderful read: well written, passionate and a fascinating story to boot. Just don’t look up the story or anything about it before you finish the book because if you don’t already know this story, the ending is a complete surprise.