Twain's End

by Lynn Cullen

"In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both. He proceeded to write a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, calling Isabel "a liar, a forger, a thief, a hypocrite, a drunkard, a sneak, a humbug, a traitor, a conspirator, a filthy-minded and salacious slut pining for seduction." Twain and his daughter, Clara Clemens, then slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family. Isabel Lyon has gone down in history as the villainess who swindled Twain in his final decade. She never rebutted Twain's claims, never spoke badly of the man she called "The King," and kept her silence until she died in a tiny Greenwich Village apartment in 1958. So how did Lyon go from being the beloved secretary who ran Twain's life to a woman he was determined to destroy? In Twain's End, Lynn Cullen reimagines the tangled relationships between Twain, Lyon, and Ashcroft, as well as the little-known love triangle between Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy, and Anne's husband, John Macy, which comes to light during their visit to Twain's Connecticut home in 1909. Add to the party a furious Clara Clemens, smarting from her own failed love affair, and carefully-kept veneers shatter. Based on Isabel Lyon's extant diary, Twain's writings and letters, and events in Twain's boyhood that may have altered his ability to love, Twain's End explores this real-life tale of doomed love"--

• ISBN10: 1476758972
• ISBN13: 9781476758978
• Publish Date: 7 June 2016 (first published 13 October 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: The Gallery Press
• Imprint: Gallery Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

Basically: UGH NO, SAVE YOURSELF.

Trigger Warning: Manipulative Abusive Asshole


This one I picked up for a review tour. I had to drop out though because the experience was unsavory. I tried, I gave it my best shot but I couldn’t finish it either.

I was interested in Twain’s End because theory on a woman fucked over by Mark Twain sounded great.

Several other low-star/no-star reviews are from people who disagree or are upset with the Mark Twain portrayal. I’m not one of those. I’ve only read his work when I had to in school and his snappy quotes shared all over the internet. So, I honestly don’t care about any of that.
But I will say this portrayal is of a manipulative, abusive asshole, which makes for unpleasant reading.

It’s a jerkward mistreating a fawning sycophant that takes care of anything possible for him. It’s disgusting.

At first, I felt terrible for Isabel. It felt like screaming at a child to avoid the white van spray-painted with “Candy” on the side. She was very young when they first met and the roundabout way they came back together was a trail of “oh no, oh no, oh no no nonooooo”.

Then she’s middle-aged and he’s pushing 70. I don’t give a fig about the age difference, it’s the power structure in place and the reinforcing actions that are sickening. I was warring with myself over feeling pity for her and frustration for her continuation of the situation. I KNOW personally how hard it is to leave abusive men and understand her limited choices, but ughhhhhh.

And the treatment of his daughters? Ugh, just when I thought the sinking feeling in my stomach couldn’t go lower.

I’m surprised I made it to when they got to Italy. There’s no way to stick this out until she leaves and the retribution that follows.

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First Update:: DNF.

Officially giving up on this one. Haven't read another page since Sept. 5th and do not want to.

I'll get round to reviewing it before the end of the year but basically: ugh.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

I know Mark Twain for two things, Tom Sawyer and wanting to dig Jane Austen up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone. (paraphrase here). I shamefully haven't read his autobiography or any biography of Sam Clemens/Mark Twain but as I always love a good author scandal and enjoyed Lynn Cullen's Mrs. Poe, decided Twain's End was a "must read".


You could without question say the concept of employer/employee relationships has been done to death and I would have to agree. Personally, this relationship annoyed me and could not fathom why Isabel was so infatuated with Sam Clemens. He was a pompous, narcissistic man. While I thought it was portrayed well I could only see Isabel as a star-struck fan and likened it to that of Stephen Tyler and Bebe Buell.


I enjoyed the secondary characters story(s) more, particularly those of his daughters. Clara, who while a bit unlikeable only wants to step outside of the shadow of her famous father. Her fumblings were a bit hard to swallow and felt sorry for her as the famous Mark Twain outshone Clara at her singing debut.


Jean, was the sister I was most captivated with, mainly due to her epileptic disorder. This was more on a personal level though as I also have epilepsy and am therefore very invested in the topic. It was a small nuance that added depth to Sam Clemen's home life and was a prime example that not even Mark Twain's life is a bed of roses.


On the last character story, I found the love triangle of Helen Keller, Anne Macy, and her husband John Macy to be very intriguing and was even more pleased after reading the author's note that it was not a fabrication.


The descriptions, particularly those of Italy were extremely vivid and added a great deal to the plot giving a grand picture of events as they played out before one's eyes. I'm a very visual person so always appreciate the little details such as the color of a theater curtain or the darkness of a room.


One thing I have always enjoyed about a good historical fiction novel is if it moves me enough to learn more about that specific person or time period. This was certainly true for Twain's End and has such inspired me to read a biography/autobiography of the author. I feel that that is the marking a captivating novel and, therefore, a thoroughly good read.