When AP political reporter Lorena Hickok—Hick—is assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1932 campaign, the two women become deeply involved. Their relationship begins with mutual romantic passion, matures through stormy periods of enforced separation and competing interests, and warms into an enduring, encompassing friendship documented by 3300 letters.
Set during the chaotic years of the … years of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War, Loving Eleanor reveals Eleanor Roosevelt as a complex, contradictory, and entirely human woman who is pulled in many directions by her obligations to her husband and family and her role as the nation’s First Lady. Hick is revealed as an accomplished journalist, who, at the pinnacle of her career, gives it all up for the woman she loves. Then, as Eleanor is transformed into Eleanor Everywhere, First Lady of the World, Hick must create her own independent, productive life. Loving Eleanor is a profoundly moving novel that illuminates a relationship we are seldom privileged to see, celebrating the depth and durability of women’s love.
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A well written novel that delves into Eleanor Roosevelt as friend, lover and first lady.
Great book about the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. Loved it!
This author gives a beautiful look into a forbidden kind of love for the era. I enjoyed her writing style, and would recommend the book for those who like historical references with more than just the boring recitation.
This is a fascinating story about two pioneering women in the Depression era. Departing from the prescribed roles for women, Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist, Lorena Hickok “Hick,” traveled around the US, interviewing people affected by the Depression, documenting their hardship, and using their reports and influence to help–creating local programs and supporting Roosevelt’s New Deal. Their friendship (and romance) was a source of strength and creativity, especially for Eleanor Roosevelt, who was initially timid and unsure of herself.
I suspect it’s difficult to write a novel about historical figures whose lives are as well-documented as Eleanor Roosevelt’s, and I sensed the author’s struggle in balancing fact and fiction. At times, the historical details felt like a recitation that would have benefitted from more dialogue, but the dialogue that was included felt forced and appeared to be limited by what was known or could be surmised from their extensive correspondence.
Albert appears to have done extensive, well-documented research. Her efforts may have been more successful as a biography of the two women rather than a novel. I found their political activities and work much more interesting than their personal lives. Hick’s frustrations that Eleanor was not the lover she hoped for and the foreshadowing of their love affair’s eventual end felt belabored.
Great historical documentary that reads like a novel. Totally recommend this.
I enjoyed this book immensely! It pirints such clear history of our country during the Depression and WW11. I learned some things I did no know bout FDR and his wife. I appreciated reading about the historical events and the names of people who lived during this period of American history. The book is fiction, but is clearly well researched. I might not appeal to everyone’ it I liked it very much.
This was a true story with some imaginative fiction squeezed in between. Frank Lloyd Wright was an unusual character and his love affair with Eleanor was star-crossed and a very unusual woman. Her world revolved around Frank. I found this hard to follow which resulted in the three star review. It just was not cohesive.
find the story unbelieveable
Good historical read
interesting
I liked the book…learned a lot…Eleanor has been my hero, but there are sides to her I didn’t know.
It was okay
Very slow moving. Did not enjoy. Eleanor Roosevelt’s an historical figure and I found this book disrespectful. She deserves better.
Focused almost exclusively on one relationship in Eleanor’s life, this book provides an intriguing glimpse into the lives of the Roosevelts and proves the rich truly are different from you and me. Eleanor and a Franklin apparently had an open relationship long before that term was part of public awareness. While it was intriguing that Eleanor may have experimented with a lesbian relationship, the book would have benefitted by providing more information about Eleanor’s other relationships, in particular her relationship with Franklin.
This was interesting and gave a good look into the history of the period.
Lorena “Hick” Hickok was an AP journalist who covered Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s wife Eleanor in the late 20s. She met the first lady of New York and continued to cover her until Roosevelt won the 1932 Presidential election. Hick and Eleanor became steadfast friends and many historians believe that they had a deeply intimate relationship. Loving Eleanor is the fictionalized account of that relationship from Hick’s perspective based on over three thousand letters written by Hick and Eleanor throughout their friendship. This book shows Eleanor in a way most people have never thought of her. Many know about FDR’s philandering ways, but many did not realize that Eleanor was a deeply loving person, who may have also had several affairs herself with both men and women. She was devoted to family, friends, and domestic causes. She was definitely her own woman.
The book is really from Hick’s point of view but the reader will definitely get a sense of what Eleanor was like on a personal basis, away from politics. I found Hick to be a bit whiny and selfish who didn’t always seem to understand that she had a friendship / relationship with the First Lady of the United States and a woman that had her own agenda in life. They were likely very much alike, so much so that it caused occasional riffs. I’m not sure I cared so much about some of the intimate details, but I did like getting to see a different side of Eleanor than I had known / realized. I’ve always admired Eleanor’s work and spirit and this has caused me to want to read more about her.