Hi!! This is my very first blog EVER…not even sure what blogging really is..oh well… I have just finished reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan and all I can say is, wow! I never saw that ending coming! There I was, lying in bed, kids tucked away and sound asleep, husband sleeping next to me and I was doing what I always do before bed, reading. I was approaching the end and both excited and sad to finish this great book. I really liked the main character, Mamah Borthwick, and I was intrigued with Frank Lloyd Wright – honestly never knew too much about him up until this book. The ending was horrific and very abrupt. At about 1 am last night, I read the gruesome slaying of not only Mamah, but her two children John, 12, and Martha, 9. It made me want to go into the kids’ room and hug them, curl up beside them. I read all the notes found in the book to see whether it was fact or not, and after a quick search on Wikipedia, I found out that yes, this really did happen and it happened on August 15, 1914, practically 2 weeks from now. That date will be remembered by me and I will think of Mamah, her children and those workmen who died in the blaze on that day.
The other thing I’d like to mention about the ending is the accurate way Nancy Horan describes the grief that Frank experienced. I have experienced such a grief, the kind that cannot be put into words, but Ms. Horan found those words through this strong character. I’d like to thank her for helping me put my grief into words..and describing the indescribable so accurately.
I loved this true story that was so well put together by this author. Taliesen is now a national historic site and is another place on my list of places I’d like to visit someday.
I have done some extra research and found a copy of the Chicago Tribune article detailing Edwin Cheney and Mamah Borthwick’s divorce proceedings. I will enclose it in this novel. 5 stars for Loving Frank!
