Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (2007)

A very interesting historical novel from the point of view of Frank Lloyd Wright's mistress Mamah Cheney. Though Mamah was a real historical person, she is rarely mentioned, though she was a part of the famous architect's life during an important part of it. The author had to piece together Mamah's story from biographies of Wright, her work, occasional newspaper articles and archives. Since I have always loved Wright's work, it was wonderful to hear more about his philosophy, design style and buildings, especially the process of building Taliesin, which I still have yet to see. I have seen some of his houses in Chicago, Oak Park, and here in Kalamazoo. I enjoyed the love story too, the travels, the growth of feminism and Mamah learning Swedish to translate some important feminist works. I was interested in their thinking about marriage and divorce, I am sure that was very radical at that time, and in a sense, still is. The only part I had a hard time with was when Mamah chose Frank over her children, leaving them with their father. I liked hearing all the details of the era - the state of phone lines, use of cars, the craftsmen working on Taliesin, etc. Great read!