It's a historical novel concerning the lesbian love affair between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her friend and companion, journalist Lorena Hickok. She poured through thousands of letters between the two women to write the book.
There was some public speculation about Roosevelt and Hickok as early as the 1930s. Had anything with the story been confirmed at that time, it was a scandal that would've rocked the country.
Watch Ken Burns documentary on The Roosevelts- An Intimate History. There is no evidence that Eleanor was a lesbian. For instance, did you know that Eleanor also lived with a male doctor who got married and the three of them lived in the same home? True! Eleanor Roosevelt was a caring, loving, open and friendly lady who did not shy away from showing her affection and did not care about what other people thought. She fully embraced African-Americans and that makes me warm all over.
Hickok and Roosevelt exchanged some 3,300 letters over nearly 30 years. This is the amount stored in the FDR Library archives. There were reportedly others that were destroyed. Even some of the letters that survived were quite intimate. I don't think she was a lesbian, but it does appear that she was open to exploring her sexuality after her marriage fell apart.
It is rumored that Eleanor, had a relationship with her young body guard. I remember seeing pictures of them together in different films. She looked so happy with him.
From what I have seen, the Val-Kill docent says that's how people wrote back then, in a very sentimental, emotional way. Of course, that was 20yrs. ago so who knows what they're telling people now? Her grandson by her daughter Anna, Curtis answers the question the same way. I know it's possible, but maybe not realistic, that she would have a circle of lesbian friends and not have been in some way having those feelings, too.
@lindatart Sara Delano, a product of the Victorian Era, had strong opinions on divorce. Upper-class people who did it at that time could easily become social outcasts. It was a matter of being image conscious. An open marriage was a better alternative to divorce. At least a couple could keep up appearances.
Eleanor came from a very dysfunctional family. This could have been a very codependent relationship instead of a lesbian relationship. If the author had enough evidence, why not write it as a biography instead of historical fiction? Is author pushing her idea?
Exactly. Eleanor actually told Hickok that she could not fulfill Hickok's needs and said she would've been happier had she married a man. When you explore further into Eleanor's family background, her aunt Corinne had friendships of similar depth, with both Corinne and Eleanor having been raised in the Victorian Era and people expressed themselves much differently at that time. People don't realize that Eleanor had a long-term boyfriend at the height of the friendship with Hickok.
Sadly, Eleanor was deeply enamored with Uncle Joe Stalin. She did not see the evil within him and with communism. FDR gave away all of eastern Europe because of his waning health. My grand parents and Great grandparents died as a result of this problem. FDR did not live to see the expansion and encroachment of communism and the loss of freedom of millions of people. Patton saw into the future and saw what was going to happen.
