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Nancy Horan Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Nancy Horan
Photo: Kevin Horan

Nancy Horan

Nancy Horan Biography

Nancy Horan is the New York Times bestselling author of Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky. Loving Frank remained on the NYT list for over a year, has been translated into sixteen languages and received the 2009 Prize for Historical Fiction. A native Midwesterner, Horan was a teacher and journalist before turning to fiction. She lived for 25 years in Oak Park, Illinois, where she raised her two sons, and she now lives with her husband on an island in Puget Sound.

Nancy Horan's website

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Interview

Nancy Horan discusses her first book Loving Frank, which explores the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and her infamous love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright.

How did you become interested in Mamah Borthwick Cheney? Why do you think that it has taken so long for her to begin to emerge from out of the shadow of Frank Lloyd Wright and be seen as an interesting figure in her own right?

Anyone who lives in Oak Park, Illinois, as I did for twenty-four years, knows something about Frank Lloyd Wright. His home and studio complex attracts busloads of visitors from around the world, and his prairie houses dot the town. One of those houses belonged to Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the client who became his lover. The house Wright built for her and her husband is on East Avenue, the very street I lived on. When I toured Wright's home and studio several times, I noticed the guides didn't say much about Mamah; understandably, their focus is on his work and family life. What little I learned about her piqued my interest, though. She was a highly educated woman, a wife and mother of young children at the time of her affair, a feminist. Who was she, and why did she risk so much? A couple of biographies about Wright whetted my appetite. The more I learned about her, the more I felt compelled to tell her remarkable story.

Some scholars and Wright admirers have resisted ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Nancy Horan at BookBrowse
The House of Lincoln jacket Under the Wide and Starry Sky jacket Loving Frank jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Nancy Horan but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Louis Bayard

    Louis Bayard

    Louis Bayard is the critically acclaimed bestselling author of nine historical novels, including Jackie & Me and The Pale Blue Eye, which was adapted into the global #1 Netflix release starring Christian Bale. His articles, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Loving Frank

    Try:
    Courting Mr. Lincoln
    by Louis Bayard

  • Marie Benedict

    Marie Benedict

    Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus in ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Under the Wide and Starry Sky

    Try:
    The Mitford Affair
    by Marie Benedict

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