Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion.Įlegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. The new novel by best-selling author Nancy Horan On the unpaved streets of 1850s Springfield, Illinois, where pigs root in the mud for garbage, talk among townspeople increasingly centers on the subject of slavery.

While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright.ĭrawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. The book capitalizes on Horan's research into both the architect's private and professional lives. 1, 2007 Journalist Horan's debut novel reflects her fascination with the brilliant, erratic architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his scandalous love affair with a married woman and mother of two. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives. LOVING FRANK by Nancy Horan RELEASE DATE: Aug.

Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan