Loving Frank by Nancy Horan - Book Review

The renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright has received much historical attention, but author Nancy Horan turns her gaze on Mamah Borthwick, Wright’s lover -- their long-term affair scandalized the public -- who deserves attention in her own right for her work as a feminist. Loving Frank tells the story of Cheney’s affair with Wright and her struggles to mesh her own independence and intelligence with the traditional roles of wife and mother.

Frank Lloyd Wright is a famously important architect, one whose life and work has received due scholarly attention. Nancy Horan decided to turn her focus to Wright’s companion, Mamah Borthwick Cheney -- the result is Loving Frank, a fictional account of Cheney’s life and relationship with the famous architect.

Their affair was a national scandal, and Horan gives an unflinching, nuanced portrayal of how the feminist Borthwick might have struggled with her personal choice to live with the man she loved. Both Wright and Borthwick had children with their legal spouses, and those children were left at home while the lovers traveled Europe.

Horan spends a fair amount of time discussing Borthwick’s feminist work for the women’s suffrage movement and her role as a translator for the Swedish feminist Ellen Key. The fact that these ideas are important to Borthwick is crucial to the story of Loving Frank, but at times Horan dwells too much on minor characters, like feminist thinkers Borthwick encounters in Europe.

Loving Frank offers peeks into Wright’s architecture and creative process, and the role Borthwick played. Ultimately, though, the novel isn’t written for fans of Wright. Loving Frank will appeal to anyone looking for a probing account of one woman’s struggle as a feminist and mother early in the 20th century.