Loving Frank
Loving Frank is a 2007 American novel by Nancy Horan. It tells the story of Mamah Borthwick's illicit love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright and the public shame they experienced in early twentieth century America. It is a fictionalised account told from Borthwick's perspective, based on research conducted by Horan, and it is her debut novel. It depicts Borthwick’s life as it became intertwined with Wright's between the years of 1907 through 1914. By following the artistic aspirations and travels of the two main protagonists, the novel portrays the social mores of the times in the United States and Europe.
Plot summary
The book opens with a note by Borthwick, reminiscing on her life and expressing her longing to give her perspective on what happened. The story begins with an account of Borthwick's attendance at a public talk in Oak Park given by Frank Lloyd Wright, a famous architect of the Chicago School. The author reveals that some years earlier, Wright had designed Borthwick's house at the insistence of her husband Edwin Cheney. Wright and Borthwick begin a tumultuous and intermittent affair while they are working together on the architectural plans for the house.The novel is an introspective portrayal of Borthwick's emotional turmoil as an intellectual, wife, mother, friend, and member of society. It also touches on Wright's personality and human traits in addition to his artistic talent and eccentricities. Throughout the novel, Borthwick explains the artistic or philosophical underpinnings of Wright's extravagant views. The novel goes deep into their family situations and internal conflicts, and allows the reader to see Wright through the lens of Borthwick’s deep admiration. The Swedish feminist Ellen Key unnerves Borthwick when she declares that Borthwick may have followed Wright in order to bask in his brilliance rather than accomplishing anything she can claim as her own.
Themes
- Women's independence: “Before Mamah came over to Germany, Mattie had said to her, 'What will you do if Frank returns to his wife? You’ll have nothing.' But Mamah felt now that if that came to be, she had more than nothing. All the rest, it seemed, had just floated away.”. Mamah Borthwick Cheney was a pioneer for women’s independence. She struggled with how a woman who wanted her own self-expression could "fulfill the traditional-bound, justly demanding needs of her children”. “Mamah, a brilliant woman with a college degree, was not suited to the role allotted to educated women of her time. She simply could not breathe”. Mamah is “a symbol of both the freedoms women yearn to have and of the consequences that may await when they try to take them”.
- Reputation: "Mrs. Cheney and Wright Elope Again. Famous Chicago Architect Lives with Divorcee in Seclusion at Hillside, Wis.; Leaves Wife at Home Forgiven After First Escapade, He Now Tacks Rent Sign on Residence”. The love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney both “shocked Chicago society and forever changed their lives”. They left a lot behind when they fled Oak Park for Europe in 1909, including two spouses and nine children between the two of them. The effects of their affair were widespread, and not just within their own families. “Beyond its shock value, the outcome would have ramifications... for architects, feminists, criminologists and armchair moralists of every stripe”.
- Morality: “Mamah Cheney followed her heart at any cost”. “As she leaves her home and children, she examines and reexamines the moral basis of her choice”. She is no longer in love with her husband, Edwin, and wants to begin living her own life, rather than living in a role assigned to her by society. “She feels completely reborn in body and mind through her relationship with Wright”.