(This column appeared in the June 14, 2009, Star-Herald)

This week’s guest book reviewer is Toby Wolfe.

"Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan is a sensitively written first novel about a little known episode in the life of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The author had lived for many years in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, the former home of Wright and his first wife and children and the place where he began his early career of designing his "Prairie" houses, many of which are still occupied today. She researched the story over a period of seven years, seeking out the few letters and stories about this poignant episode, much of which seems to have been kept out of sight of the public for many years. Even today, when one visits any of the buildings and museums devoted to Wright, no mention is made of this period of his life.

Ms. Horan has written a novel based on facts about a period of 7 years (1907 to 1914) in which Wright and a client and friend became involved in an extra-marital relationship that was considered scandalous at the time. While the book is a modified form of "fiction", most of the dialogue has been a product of the writer’s imagination because there is very little historical record of this tragic episode.

An upper-middle class married woman, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, mother of two young children, becomes fascinated by and obsessed by Wright when her husband chooses him to design a new house for the family. The Cheneys and the Wrights are neighbors and Mrs. Wright is a member of the same women’s club to which Mamah (pronounced Maymah) belongs.

Mamah is an educated, talented woman who is fluent in several languages. Her affluent marriage seems sterile and she is seeking fulfillment in her life beyond that of a wife and mother. She falls under the influence of a Swedish feminist named Ellen Key who is revolutionary for the times. Key promotes the idea of free love rather than a loveless marriage.

Wright is a towering figure who mesmerizes his audiences and his followers with his charisma, intellect and physical attraction. To Mamah, he becomes a soul mate, offering her a vision of a world outside the restrictions of her comfortable but unchallenging lifestyle.

The affair is soon discovered when Mamah leaves her family behind and joins Wright in a trip to Europe, where they take up residence in Berlin. Their life turns out to be less than idyllic and they become notorious in the U.S. Their eventual return to the U.S. is a shambles when Wright, in his arrogance, attempts to justify to reporters of national newspapers, his having left his wife and six children while expounding his architectural philosophy. The two become pariahs, affecting themselves, their spouses and their children, as well as having a serious negative effect on Wright’s professional life. Ultimately, the affair leads to a terrible tragedy affecting both families.

A central theme of the book is the beginnings of the feminist movement, highlighted by the fact that Mamah becomes a translator for Ellen Key. Her aspiration to become a woman in her own right is a difficult goal in the setting of the early part of the 20^th century.

Ms. Horan has succeeded in giving the reader a realistic feeling of the atmosphere of the settings in the book and the moral values of the times. One has to feel deep compassion for a woman who has given up everything to follow Wright’s star while having to come to terms with being branded as a fallen woman. Horan clearly defines the characters of both Wright and Mamah and the influences in their lives that have led them to be the people they have become.

I was impressed by the quality of Ms. Horan’s prose and hope that she will find another subject equally as enthralling so that we might enjoy more of her talent.