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Lynn Cullen reimagines the tangled relationships between Mark Twain, his private secretary Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager Ralph Ashcroft.
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 reimagines 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.
Based on Isabel Lyon's extant diary, Twain's writings and letters, and events in Twain's boyhood that may have altered his ability to love, Twain's End explores this real-life tale of doomed love.
"Starred Review. [A] fascinating interpretation of this early 20th century literary immortal, distinguished by incisive character portrayals and no-holds-barred scrutiny." - Publishers Weekly
"A more nuanced character would have strengthened this sad story of futile, desperate love." - Kirkus
"Compelling storytelling can sometimes take a backseat to fact in fictionalized biography, and Cullen doesn't entirely avoid this trap. Still, she does a fine job of bringing to life for the reader the complexities of Clemens' private life. A good read-alike for Susan Vreeland's Clara and Mr. Tiffany (2011)." - Booklist
"Utterly fascinating and heartbreaking... a rich novel which will sweep you into a remarkable world." - Stephanie Cowell, author of Claude and Camille
"This remarkable book explores the life of Mark Twain as seen through the eyes of the women in his household. As each interacts with the legendary Twain, the reader is allowed glimpses of the man - Samuel Clemens - living behind the well-known persona who rode in on a comet's coattails and made the entire world laugh. Lynn Cullen is an outstanding writer, and Twain's End is an exceptional book." - Raymond Atkins, author of Sweetwater Blues
"The breadth of research and faithfulness to the subjects is evident... Twain's End is more than a study in character; it is a cautionary tale of the spoils of fame and power, and those intoxicated by it. Captivating." - Erika Robuck, bestselling author of Hemingway's Girl
"Mark Twain's last decade roars with intrigue and yearning... Cullen illuminates the darker, outermost corners of Samuel Clemens's later years, the caged lives of his daughters, his dying wife, and a woman 'Mark Twain' was never meant to love." - Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist
This information about Twain's End was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lynn Cullen grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her recent novel, Mrs. Poe, a national bestseller, has been named a Target Book Club Pick, an NPR 2013 Great Read, and an Indie Next List selection. She lives in Atlanta surrounded by her own large family, and, like Mark Twain, enjoys being bossed around by cats.
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