Twains End

Review copy provided via NetGallery in exchange for an honest review

Summary: Twains End

In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both. He proceeded to write a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, calling Isabel “a liar, a forger, a thief, a hypocrite, a drunkard, a sneak, a humbug, a traitor, a conspirator, a filthy-minded and salacious slut pining for seduction.” Twain and his daughter, Clara Clemens, then slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family. How did Lyon go from being the beloved secretary who ran Twain’s life to a woman he was determined to destroy?

In Twain’s End, Lynn Cullen reimagines the tangled relationships between Twain, Lyon, and Ashcroft, as well as the little-known love triangle between Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy, and Anne’s husband, John Macy, which comes to light during their visit to Twain’s Connecticut home in 1909. Add to the party a furious Clara Clemens, smarting from her own failed love affair, and carefully kept veneers shatter.

Based on Isabel Lyon’s extant diary, Twain’s writings and letters, and events in Twain’s boyhood that may have altered his ability to love, Twain’s End explores this real-life tale of doomed love.

Review

I’ve been trying for over a week to connect with this book, as I was a huge fan of mark Twain. As a history buff, I thought this would be right up my alley, but as much as I try I can’t seem to connect.  I can tell it’s a well-written  story, those, the three star rating and not a one or two.  It’s not very often I find a book I can’t finish reading.  I feel so bad about requesting to review this book as it sounded so intriguing.

Conclusion:

Would I recommend this book to others?  NO

Would I read other books from this Author? I’d like to try another book and see if it was just this one book.

Is this book a Novel or Novella?  Novel