TWAIN'S END is a fictional account of the relationship
between Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens and his secretary
Isabel Lyon based on Isabel Lyon's diary, Twain's
writings, and letters. The book starts off in 1909 with a
visit from Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy
and husband John Macy at the home of Samuel Clemens.
There seem to be a love-triangle between Helen, Anne and
John going on and it's noticeable for the residents in
the house. And, the harmony in the house isn't that good
since Sam's relationship with Isabel is at a crossroad
with Isabel having to choose between staying with Sam or
moving forward in life with Sam's business manager Ralph
Ashcroft who is in love with her. But, the story goes
back in time to when Isabel first met Sam and how it came
to be that she started to work as his secretary before
the readers get to know what will happen next...
I'm not at all familiar with Mark Twain more than I know
that he wrote THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN and that
he was born the same year as the Halley's Comet appeared
in the sky and that he died the same year the Halley's
Comet returned. Reading this book opened my eyes to the
man behind the pseudonym Mark Twain: Sam Clemens. Of
course, this is a fictional tale and not a biography, so
actions and thoughts are not always to be taken as fact.
However, what's true is that Sam fired Isabel one month
after she married Ralph. Why? That's the question that
this book tries to answer.
One thing I found very interesting with TWAIN'S END was
how
Sam Clemens' creation Mark Twain, in the end, took over
his life and how up until his death he did everything he
could to protect his personage. Mark Twain is America's
Sweetheart and the love of his life is Olivia Clemens
(even after her death) and that meant Sam had to
sacrifice his own happiness for his creation to be
perfect. Sam may love Isabel, but Mark loves Olivia. It
may sound complicated and a bit odd, but Sam even
sacrificed his own daughter's happiness. Clara Clemens is
in love with a married man, but she can never have him
since that will blemish the image the world has of Mark
Twain.
I felt in the end that Isabel made the right decision to
leave Sam. She had for years been bullied by his daughter
Clara and the servant Katy Leary. And, to be honest,
Isabel's blind devotion and loyalty to a man that would,
in the end, chose the Mark Twain personage over her, well
she is better off without him is my opinion. The tough
part of this book for me and that is always when I read a
book based on a true story with an unhappy ending is the
knowledge that it all will end badly. TWAIN'S END is not a
happy
love story. She worshiped him, and he well in his own way
loved her, but apparently just not enough.
From the bestselling and highly acclaimed author of the
“page-turning tale” (Library Journal, starred review)
Mrs. Poe comes a fictionalized imagining of the
personal life of America’s most iconic writer: Mark Twain.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 “cleverly spins a
mysterious, dark tale” (Booklist) about 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.
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