White Houses: A Novel
For readers of The Paris Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue comes a “sensuous, captivating account of a forbidden affair between two women” (People)—Eleanor Roosevelt and “first friend” Lorena Hickok.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Financial Times • San Francisco Chronicle • New York Public Library • Refinery29 • Real Simple
Lorena Hickok meets Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932 while reporting on Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign. Having grown up worse than poor in South Dakota and reinvented herself as the most prominent woman reporter in America, “Hick,” as she’s known to her friends and admirers, is not quite instantly charmed by the idealistic, patrician Eleanor. But then, as her connection with the future first lady deepens into intimacy, what begins as a powerful passion matures into a lasting love, and a life that Hick never expected to have. She moves into the White House, where her status as “first friend” is an open secret, as are FDR’s own lovers. After she takes a job in the Roosevelt administration, promoting and protecting both Roosevelts, she comes to know Franklin not only as a great president but as a complicated rival and an irresistible friend, capable of changing lives even after his death. Through it all, even as Hick’s bond with Eleanor is tested by forces both extraordinary and common, and as she grows as a woman and a writer, she never loses sight of the love of her life.
From Washington, D.C. to Hyde Park, from a little white house on Long Island to an apartment on Manhattan’s Washington Square, White Houses moves elegantly through fascinating places and times, written in compelling prose and with emotional depth, wit, and acuity.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Financial Times • San Francisco Chronicle • New York Public Library • Refinery29 • Real Simple
Lorena Hickok meets Eleanor Roosevelt in 1932 while reporting on Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign. Having grown up worse than poor in South Dakota and reinvented herself as the most prominent woman reporter in America, “Hick,” as she’s known to her friends and admirers, is not quite instantly charmed by the idealistic, patrician Eleanor. But then, as her connection with the future first lady deepens into intimacy, what begins as a powerful passion matures into a lasting love, and a life that Hick never expected to have. She moves into the White House, where her status as “first friend” is an open secret, as are FDR’s own lovers. After she takes a job in the Roosevelt administration, promoting and protecting both Roosevelts, she comes to know Franklin not only as a great president but as a complicated rival and an irresistible friend, capable of changing lives even after his death. Through it all, even as Hick’s bond with Eleanor is tested by forces both extraordinary and common, and as she grows as a woman and a writer, she never loses sight of the love of her life.
From Washington, D.C. to Hyde Park, from a little white house on Long Island to an apartment on Manhattan’s Washington Square, White Houses moves elegantly through fascinating places and times, written in compelling prose and with emotional depth, wit, and acuity.
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
White Houses by Amy Bloom
240 pages
What’s it about?
This is the story of an unlikely love between two middle aged women. Coincidentally the women happen to be Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. They have a relationship that quickly becomes an affair of the heart. They are only together under the same roof for 6 years (yes- Eleanor was married to FDR and the roof they are under is the White House) but remain close for the remainder of their lives.
What did it make me think about?
This is such an incredible story and my feeling was that this book just doesn't do the actual history justice....
Should I read it?
Recently thousands of letters between Eleanor and “Hick” have been discovered. This is an imagined story- but a story with a lot of written history surrounding it. Amy Bloom has written a book about two very interesting women but I found her imagined story kind of bland. However, it does not require much time to read so if you like historical fiction then enjoy.
Quote-
“Her propriety, my brass knuckles. Her Hyde Park–iness, my South Dakota gloom. The Roosevelts cultivate chin up and make the best of it. None of them ever see that what they’re making the best of is tons of money, a tenements worth of servants, and such a grand old name that it doesn’t matter that two hundred years ago they were no better than the Hickoks of South Dakota, which is a damn low bar. Rich people.”
If you like this try-
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Georgia by Dawn Tripp
Euphoria by Lily King
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
White Houses by Amy Bloom
240 pages
What’s it about?
This is the story of an unlikely love between two middle aged women. Coincidentally the women happen to be Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. They have a relationship that quickly becomes an affair of the heart. They are only together under the same roof for 6 years (yes- Eleanor was married to FDR and the roof they are under is the White House) but remain close for the remainder of their lives.
What did it make me think about?
This is such an incredible story and my feeling was that this book just doesn't do the actual history justice....
Should I read it?
Recently thousands of letters between Eleanor and “Hick” have been discovered. This is an imagined story- but a story with a lot of written history surrounding it. Amy Bloom has written a book about two very interesting women but I found her imagined story kind of bland. However, it does not require much time to read so if you like historical fiction then enjoy.
Quote-
“Her propriety, my brass knuckles. Her Hyde Park–iness, my South Dakota gloom. The Roosevelts cultivate chin up and make the best of it. None of them ever see that what they’re making the best of is tons of money, a tenements worth of servants, and such a grand old name that it doesn’t matter that two hundred years ago they were no better than the Hickoks of South Dakota, which is a damn low bar. Rich people.”
If you like this try-
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Georgia by Dawn Tripp
Euphoria by Lily King
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
Extremely well written, kept my attention throughout. Narrator did such a good job separating each character. I learned a lot I didn’t know from this one….
Very lightly based on the story of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt's life during and after her white house days narrated by her lover and white house reporter Lorena Hickok
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