White Houses

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.”