Twain's End by Lynn Cullen

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"--

Reviewed by layawaydragon on

1 of 5 stars

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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.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 11 December, 2016: Finished reading
  • 11 December, 2016: Reviewed