Movie Reviews: An Unexpected Love and Tru Love

An Unexpected Love
March 2003
Lesbian/ bi?

An unhappily married housewife and mother of two children (Leslie Hope) separates from her husband and gets a new job where she develops a mutual attraction to her female boss (Wendy Crewson)

Whole movie is on youtube if you don’t mind Danish subtitles.
This movie apparently was produced and written for Lifetime TV. I don’t know if it ever showed on TV but if so, kudos to them. I don’t think I’ve seen a made for TV movie that specifically dealt with a lesbian relationship.

So… I really liked this story. Both actresses did a great job and it felt believable. Yes, it is the cliché of the unhappily married woman who unexpectedly finds herself attracted to a woman for the first time, but it was well written.

What I liked about it was that all the characters involved act how one would expect they’d act in this situation. Kate and her husband are mutually OK with splitting up, although her husband would be fine keeping the status quo. Kate has always wanted to be a wife and mother and that’s what she went for. They have a nice upper middle class existence, but Kate is just not happy and decides that she wants a more fulfilling life.

She ends up working for Mac at Mac’s real-estate agency. Mac is an out lesbian. Both women get closer as they work together and Kate finds herself attracted as more than a friend to Mac. Mac is very leery when Kate professes that attraction because, um, Kate is straight and Mac doesn’t want to be some straight woman’s experiment and she doesn’t want to be a straight women’s secret lover. Mac has lost the love of her life and is also reluctant to find someone knew.

While they dance around each other trying to work out both an attraction and mixed feelings about that attraction, Kate gets the guts up to tell her husband, children and best friend about her attraction to Mac, which goes over…not well…at first.

This movie is a kind of a sweet romance, but it also deals realistically with all the issues around homophobia, possible “gay for you” as Kate can’t really say she’s now a lesbian, and fear for glbt person being used as a fling. It also addresses certain stereotypes of what straight people think about gay relationships. I liked that it wasn’t cheesy, nor was this movie melodramatic. In fact, all the characters act rather maturely for this kind of situation, considering.

The only negative thing I will say is that it did come across as too insta love for me at first on Kate’s side. There is a nice build-up of a friendship between Kate and Mac, but those special things that would occur between two characters falling in love seemed missing. They are just normal, good friends one min and suddenly Kate is kissing Mac out of nowhere. I would have loved to see more sexual/ romantic nuance between the women before that first kiss. However, it is an HEA and still an enjoyable movie.

Heat level: 2-- semi naked, sweet sex scene
Grade: 4 stars

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Tru Love (Canadian)
2013
May/ Dec- lesbian/straight

A widow, recovering from the death of her husband, comes to the big city to spend time with her busy professional daughter. Instead, she forges an unlikely relationship with a commitment-phobic lesbian who has a past with her daughter.

I had watched A Perfect Ending, which I loved, about an older / younger women relationship. So I was attracted to Tru Love, hoping it would be as good for me as the other because it’s also is about an May/ Dec female relationship. Tru Love, while compared often to A Perfect Ending, is a very different film though, and can’t be compared really. Well not in story. I will compare it when it comes to personal feelings about May/ Dec love representations.

Maybe it was just my mood, but for most of it I felt a bit uncomfortable watching this. And while I just said Tru Love should not be compared to A Perfect Ending, what made that less uncomfortable for me was the fact that that relationship started out and is based on a business deal, so the lines are clear at the beginning and age difference wouldn’t be a factor in it. In this movie, it’s really about a love that develops between a 60 something woman with a late 30’s something woman.

For some reason, I felt a kind of dread throughout  most of the film mainly because I wasn’t sure I wanted to see these two characters actually fall in love and be intimate. And I’ll be honest in that probably my discomfort is that I’m an older woman myself and would feel weird being with a much younger woman like the one in this film. Although, actually, if I would put myself in the position of a younger woman attracted to an older one, that wouldn’t have made me feel uneasy at all.

Tru is a lesbian who seems to be fairly callous in her relationships with other women. She won’t commit to anyone and seems to have one night stands and brief relationships one after another, not even bothering to remember their names. Suzanne, one of those past women, asks Tru, who still has the key to that Suzanne’s house (side bar- I wonder how real it is that lesbians having brief affairs give each other keys to their houses after a few nights, which seemed to be the case in this movie), to let her visiting mom in. Suzanne is a lawyer and a workaholic.

Due to Suzanne never being home, Tru sort of entertains Alice, Suzanne’s mom. They like each other right away and start getting very close to the discomfort of Suzanne. On the one hand Suzanne is feeling a bit jealous of time her mom is spending with Tru, but on the other she won’t stop working. When she sees that Tru and her mom are getting a little too close she tries to thwart their relationship, which upsets both Tru and Alice, who think the other is avoiding.

As for Alice, her husband has died and for the first time she feels free to let go and enjoy life. The ghost of her husband is there and talks to her when she’s musing, so we get some background on what Alice’s life has been about.

Alice’s zest for life and enjoyment of Tru, and maybe also because she is an older woman who Tru relates differently to than women her own age, makes it easier for Tru to open up about her painful past. So we get to see why Tru is a commitment-phobe.

This story is just as much about a mother/ daughter relationship as an f/f relationship as tensions rise up between Alice and Suzanne about Tru. It also makes Suzanne confront her avoidance of any kind of a life outside of work. She’s very uptight and this cracks her shell.

So the crux of my discomfort is that I felt Tru and Alice connecting as two people might with that kind of age difference, but couldn’t see it entering into a more intimate thing, which it did. On the other hand, truly, I think I ended up liking this film because it does show that love and relationships between people can go beyond what society might deem appropriate or not. (between consenting adults) And I appreciate stories like this that go outside the box.

I’d definitely recommend this story if you’d be open to a May/Dec story with a much older woman.

Heat Level: 0 implied sex, no nudity

Grade: 4 Stars

Movie Reviews: Desert Hearts and Purple Sea

Desert Hearts
1985
Lesbian/ bi?/ May-Dec

It is 1950s Nevada, and Professor Vivian Bell arrives to get a divorce. She's unsatisfied with her marriage, and feels out of place at the ranch she stays on, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Cay Rivers, an open and self-assured lesbian, and the ranch owner's daughter. The emotions released by their developing intimacy, and Vivian's insecurities about her feelings towards Cay, are played out against a backdrop of rocky landscapes and country and western songs. 

- Written by Neil Lewis

This is a very sweet and touching love story and I loved this film. It’s also totally offbeat and not the usual kind of story outside of it being a lesbian story. For the time period it’s set in, it’s rather incredible that it was made as is. It doesn’t shy away from or act like being a lesbian is anything out of the norm, which I loved. I also thought it interesting to have an out lesbian in a story set in the 50’s. I guess if there was any place in the US that a woman could be somewhat open about being a lesbian in the 50’s, it could be Reno.

Vivien ends up on a ranch in Nevada, staying there until she can get a quickie divorce. It seems her lawyer has a package deal and this is why she’s there vs. a hotel in town. She’s a professor at Columbia University and doesn’t quite click with people at the ranch. She’s older, prim, quiet, rather uptight, thoughtful, and doesn’t really engage too much with the others. I didn’t blame her, they get on her case for putting on airs as it were.

She explains to her lawyer that while her marriage to another professor is OK and they get along, she feels something is missing and wants more out of life. She has no children and states he would not contest the divorce. It seems contradictory to her character as normally it’s a more passionate personality that would go to such huge lengths for a change. So she’s in a transition in her life although not really looking for any kind of excitement.

Cay is a young woman living on the ranch that her father’s long-time lover owns. She’s an out lesbian and is very outgoing. She works in a casino and is just living life, having brief affairs until “the one” shows up. She and Vivien start talking here and there and slowly they form a friendship. Vivien, while a bit embarrassed when she finds out Cay is a lesbian, surprisingly, doesn’t really judge her. And she’s curious about Cay and her life.

Other stuff going on is that the owner of the ranch, Frances, is a tough woman who feels threatened by Vivien and Cay’s relationship. Even though Cay is not her biological daughter, she thinks of her as such and as she sees Cay falling for Vivien, she gets jealous and causes problems. She sees Vivien as an interloper who’s trying to break up her only family.

What’s so lovely about this story is how actress Helen Shaver’s played Vivien. Cay, being young and brash, openly hits on Vivien. She’s attracted to Vivien in a way she’s not been with the others and feels Vivien could be “the one.” Vivien is a bit freaked out by it and keeps Cay at arm’s length even as she starts feeling something for her. Helen Shaver’s portrayal of a woman falling in love with another woman for the first time is amazing. She shows a deeply nuanced vulnerability and shyness when her character finally allows herself to be intimate with Cay. Both actresses made this story so believable and I felt they fell in love in a very natural, deep, and honest way.

One really good thing about this film is that it’s left off with a definite HFN. So often these lesbian movies leave off with some tragedy and sometimes you just want that the couple you rooted for to get together does and you’re left feeling good. And I liked that Vivien is the one who earnestly wants to keep exploring what they have together. So this is not a straight woman briefly falls for a lesbian then goes back to her life.

Definite recommend.

Heat level- 3-4 nude sex scene, beautifully done.

Grade: 5 Stars

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"Viola di mare" Purple Sea (Italian)
2009
Lesbian/ historical

Set in 19th century Sicily, Angela and Sara have been friends all their lives. But Angela isn't like other girls, she's fearless, and when she develops feeling for Sara she won't hide them. To maintain the forbidden relationship that blossoms between the two women, Angela disguise herself as a man. The two women challenge the rules of society in order to be together in this lush period romance.

Based on a true story

This was an amazing film. Loved it! It’s just gorgeous all around, with the setting and the women and how their love story develops.

I can’t speak for the truth in historical value, but it seemed spot on. The film starts out with the main characters as children, growing up on a small island in which the only industry is rock mining. Angela’s father is the foreman for all the workers on the Island and he’s a cruel, hard man who rules everyone, including his family, with an iron fist. Her father was pissed off that she was born a girl and has never forgiven her mother or her for that.

Sara is the daughter of a maid for the Baron who owns most of what’s on the island. They grow up playing with each other and the other kids of the quarry workers. Sara and Angela are best friends, always together, but Sara has to go to the mainland with her mother with the Baroness. Angela is shown waiting faithfully for Sara to come back.

Fast forward many years and both women are in their early 20’s. Sara comes back and they start their friendship up again. Only this time, Angela makes it clear pretty quickly that she’s in love with Sara and tells her she will marry her. At first Sara is a bit shocked, but quickly warms to that idea and falls in love with Angela as well.

I have to say that I really felt these two were in love. They have so much passion for each other, particularly Angela, who never wavers for a second.

Unfortunately, these two women are living in a place and time when their love is absolutely unacceptable. When Angela’s father tells her she will be married soon, she confesses she loves Sara and is locked up.

What happens after that is such a twist and I’m not sure it could have actually happened as it did, but the idea that it could and they could get away with it is interesting to think about.

Angela’s mother comes up with the idea to call in a favor from the priest and have Angela’s name changed on her birth certificate to say she’s a male. This allows her and Sara to marry. Although her father goes along with it and makes her now the foreman in his place because she is now a man, of course, many in the village don’t accept it and problems do arise, but they manage.



This is such a passionate story of love between two women. And even though not traditionally having an HEA, it’s still a beautiful, satisfying love story.

Heat level: 4- full on naked sex scenes – not done salaciously though

Rating: 5 Stars

Review- Backwards to Oregon by Jae

Backwards to Oregon
By Jae
April 6, 2013
Era Historical 1850’s/ Lesbian /Bisexual
542 pgs
Publisher: Ylva Verlag; 2 edition

"Luke" Hamilton has always been sure that she'd never marry. She accepted that she would spend her life alone when she chose to live her life disguised as a man.

After working in a brothel for three years, Nora Macauley has lost all illusions about love. She no longer hopes for a man who will sweep her off her feet and take her away to begin a new, respectable life.

But now they find themselves married and on the way to Oregon in a covered wagon, with two thousand miles ahead of them.

Backwards to Oregon is one of those stories that shined in both the detail of the time period it’s set in and the slow burn of a romance build up. Clearly it’s a long book, but author Jae managed to write about every day minutia and issues the characters dealt with as they made their way from Missouri to Oregon in the mid 1800’s in a way that kept my interest. I actually read this book fairly quickly due to it.

Backwards to Oregon also featured two tropes that are a favorite of mine: a female passing as a male, and marriage of convenience.

So let’s talk about Luke. Since the author uses the pronoun she when talking about Luke, I will stick with that as well. Luke is, to everyone she has contact with, a stand up, conscientious, and courageous man. She been in the army and fought bravely as a leader in the Mexican-American War and has returned to Missouri to head west to start a farm raising horses in Oregon. She’s worked hard to keep her identity as a woman a secret all this time and for the most part manages it.

Really, there is nary a hint of anyone questioning her gender throughout the whole book, which did make me wonder. But I’ve known and read about women passing as men and living as men during and long after a war, so suspension of disbelief was possible here.

Luke decides that to keep her identity and keep people from wondering about her while on her way to Oregon that she should find a wife. She chooses Nora, a prostitute in the local brothel. Nora, already having a child and no prospects other than being a prostitute, readily agrees, hoping to start a new life.

As they move their way across the land, Nora questions why Luke doesn’t want her sexually as this is what she expects he’d want as part of the arrangement. She thinks it’s really weird that he keeps his distance and often feels he doesn’t like her. For at least ¾ of the book Nora goes in and out of respecting how Luke is taking care of her and her daughter and how honorable he is, and wondering what’s wrong with him or her that he doesn’t desire her sexually. It does cause a lot of tension at times, both for her and Luke.

Throughout most of the trip, Luke feels inwardly, and even expresses outwardly, that Nora should find another husband when they get to Oregon. She knows that if Nora finds out she’s a woman, she will want to leave. This perplexes and freaks Nora out. Nora inwardly worries that Luke, not wanting her, will dump her as soon as they get there and then she might get stuck with a man like one on the trail who beats his wife constantly. Or even worse, that she will find no one and not be able to take care of herself and daughter.

What’s kind of interesting about this relationship is that due to the fact that Luke is hiding her identity, it really is a marriage of convenience. Luke steps up and takes full care of Nora and Nora learns to be a good wife, working hard to play her part and help Luke. This is where having to work together as a team to get to Oregon works in their favor. They both have to ignore their personal fears about their possible future without each other and in doing so learn to appreciate and respect, and…slowly come to love each other.

While neither Nora nor Luke talk about each other’s past, I liked that the author did eventually give some insight into how each character ended up where they were. They both come from vastly different worlds.

Outside of that slow dance that they do, the author went into incredible detail of life on the trail. I kind of actually felt like I was on that journey, with clear and intricate descriptions of the landscape, clothing, accoutrements used, and issues faced by pioneers sucking me in. It did feel like the author did extensive research. And since the book is long, the long journey between Missouri and Oregon, the ups and downs made me feel by the end that I was as tired as the characters were and couldn’t wait for them to get there. The main reason that I kept reading though was to find out what would happen once Nora would find out that Luke was a woman.

Spoiler***************************************************************

For me, to some degree, the story became a bit more interesting once she did find out. This is because until that point, Luke is like this perfect, can do no wrong, highly respected person in EVERYONE’S eyes. Once Nora and one other finds out, suddenly Luke doesn’t seem so honorable and her imperfections start coming through. I felt she became a more vulnerable and human person at that point. She also has to confront the “female” part of her that she’s denied due to acting and living like a man.

Nora is confronted by mixed feelings as well. One is that she’s lived an immoral life in the eyes of society and yet she has her own moral judgments about Luke and that Luke is living a sin by going against nature. This made her character a bit more interesting as well because she’s also fallen in love with Luke and tries to come to terms with those conflicting feelings. 

End spoiler**************************************************************

There are a bunch of other clearly defined characters involved as well that also add a lot of drama.  Bernice, a “respectable” woman, befriends Nora and helps her out, teaching her what is expected of her as a good wife and woman in society. I liked that she didn’t judge Nora when she finds out about her past, but she’s also a mixed bag of morality, having her own lines because she finds out about Luke. And then there were a few bad guys who added some tension to what was mainly a drama free drama.

As an historical set in the west, Backwards to Oregon is an excellent read. While not a gripping story as in full of tension, I still recommend as an entertaining one. Also, there is an extension to the story after the end, which I felt added a lot as well; an extension on their life after settling in Oregon.

Heat level: 1-2- some sex, but nothing graphically written or extensive.

Grade: 4 ½ Stars

Review- Miyuki: The Silence of the Deep Snow by Carla Croft

Miyuki: The Silence of Deep Snow

By Carla Croft

March 16, 2013

Erotica/ f-f-f/ Bisexual/ Contemporary/ Interracial/BDSM/D/s

111 pgs

From the renowned author, Carla Croft, comes Miyuki: The Silence of Deep Snow. Ms Croft has been described by one well known erotic author as her favourite find of 2012.This, her first novella, charts her discovery of the relationship between Miyuki (a beautiful half-Japanese girl) and her Mistress. Described as a stunning story full of dark angst, mystery and suggestive erotica, the story is sure to delight readers of Romance and Erotica. The story contains adult themes including explicit sex, lesbian relationships, bondage and S&M. Graphic Content

It’s been a while since I ventured into erotica territory and I had a craving for it after reading many fairly non erotic romance books. I found out about this book from a link on Twitter and it looked interesting. I like finding books with Japanese characters in it and the reviews gave me an indication that maybe it’s a good book.

Cara (Carla) is a lawyer by day and a sort of sex writer/collector of sex stories by night. She’s living an average life: married, working, but her passion of sorts is collecting those  stories. In her everyday dealings with many people she has met Miyuki, a biracial Japanese girl who has been living in England for a few years. Miyuki is an enigma and mystery to Cara and capturing Cara’s imagination, has become fodder for her sexual fantasies.

(By the way, the character’s name in the story is the same as the author’s, which I don’t know how to take really. Also, the author’s bio is the same as the lead character’s in this story. Is this autobiographical? Not sure.)

One evening to Cara’s delight, they meet up at Miyuki’s request. Miyuki offers Cara a proposition that shocks and freaks her out on one level, but also excites her on another, and Cara decides to go along with it.

The rest of the night is all about Pretty (Miyuki’s sub name) and Pretty’s mistress Dominica, a much older woman, introducing Cara to the delights and specifics of the sexual world of Doms and Subs.

I found the author’s voice and way of writing to be rather exquisite and it appealed greatly to my sense of aesthetics. I would call this more highbrow erotica since the focus seemed to be less on the actual sex acts and more on the senses and strict rituals involved. Also, she got the essence of Japanese aesthetics down as well, meaning way of expression and thinking. (Not the part that the author included in which Miyuki has trouble saying certain letters in English words.)

The author really gets into the nitty-gritty of what’s going on in Cara’s head, what she’s experiencing, and to some degree Miyuki and Dominica's as well. Through Cara’s thoughts, emotions, impressions, and astute observations about how Miyuki and Dominica interact, we get to see her process as she goes from being someone with only superficial knowledge of and having a somewhat negative view of the D/s world, to someone who comes to “get it.”

For the most part, this book is provocative and sexually intense. The characters, how the sex is written- fairly hot-- and style of writing as it starts and ends is engrossing. However, it wasn’t a perfect story.

I was all into these three women, how they are engaging with each other on a visceral level and then bam, there’s this whole section in between in which Dominica starts explaining what the D/s relationship is all about to Cara. It got way too cerebral for me, taking me out of the story altogether and my mind started wandering into chores I needed to do, what was on TV, etc. Since the writing does get into lofty philosophical territory at times outside of that, I was afraid it might not get back on track. Others might like a tutorial on D/s lifestyle, but for me, it detracted from the fantastic energy and chemistry of the beginning of the book.

I get that Cara is there partly from the standpoint of a writer who likes to do “research” on sex as it were and didn’t know much about the D/s relationship, so I can see the injected commentary from the character’s standpoint. However, her main reason to go there, at a baser, more instinctual level, was due to her deep attraction to Miyuki and desire to be with her. Even so, I wanted to see how it turned out and did keep going. The end does make up for it and carries on with the same intensity as the beginning had, but with an interesting and unexpected twist.

As far as the actual D/s/ BDSM part of the story goes, I felt it’s rather mild compared to others I’ve read. This would be a really good story for anyone wanting to step into reading the genre for the first time without being overwhelmed with aspects that that can put off those not into or accustomed to reading it.

Overall, with the story getting back on track at the end, I’d give this recommend if you’re looking for a light D/s f/f erotica story.

Heat Level: 4-5- graphic sex, although not as much as I would expect in erotica. Light BDSM, D/s, f/f/f.

Grade: Liked it

Review- Prohibited Passion (Bandit Creek #10) by Alyssa Linn Palmer

Prohibited Passion (Bandit Creek #10)

By Alyssa Linn Palmer

January 12, 2012

F/F/Bisexual/ Period Historical 1920’s

72 pgs

This erotic romance brings you right into the middle of Prohibition...

Ruth wants to escape the boredom of Bandit Creek and the strict expectations of her father, the local pastor. Her life changes the day she meets CeeCee, a world-wise flapper, and an irresistible attraction develops between them. She’ll be disowned and shunned if anyone discovers their prohibited passion, but can they keep their growing affection a secret?

CeeCee is drawn to Ruth, but things become complicated when her gangster companion disapproves of their liaison. He’s in town to broker a deal with the owner of the local speakeasy, and he’s not above using them to further his own plans. Can CeeCee protect Ruth and their budding relationship?

As Ruth gets drawn further into their world, she must decide between her familiar life and a new, dangerous path with the woman she loves

I really don’t know how to categorize this book. I enjoyed it, but it’s not really a romance per se. It’s more like a coming out/of age lesbian fiction story.

Ruth feels stifled and trapped in her life. Her mother has passed away and she is all her preacher father has. She takes care of him and the house as was what women were expected to do in those days and is expected to act as a proper preacher’s daughter should.  She’s of an age that young men are coming around to court her, ones that will take over the position of church preacher when her father retires, but she has no interest in that. Instead she dreams of a life outside, free of all these constraints and full of new experiences.

While shopping in town, she casually glances through the cafe window and sees a beautiful woman sitting alone, clearly a stranger in town. She’s mesmerized by this woman, the way she’s dressed, her beauty. This woman, CeeCee, happens to notice her looking and see’s something about Ruth that attracts her. She’s so much like someone she once knew, someone she loved.

CeeCee ends up inviting Ruth to a speakeasy, something Ruth feels rather uncomfortable about due to how things would look for her father if she were caught, but is so enthralled by CeeCee she goes. This catapults Ruth into a whole new world and helps her discover things about herself she didn’t know about.

Ruth responds easily to CeeCee’s advances even if she’s shy. CeeCee represents just the new and exciting that Ruth craves. However, there’s a kink in the budding love between CeeCee and Ruth, Sheirdan, CeeCee’s busisness partner/boyfriend/controller.

Sheridan is not happy that Ruth, the preacher’s daughter, has been brought there and makes it known is clear and on aggressive terms. This creates tension in all of them.

What was kind of weird for me in this story was how easily CeeCee moves between Sheridan and Ruth. I didn’t quite get her relationship with Sheridan. They have a sort of business relationship in which CeeCee is used to seduce costumers into buying the bootleg booze from Sheridan. He seems to have a lot of control over her both physically and emotionally, which he exercises somewhat violently at times. But at the same time, they also have a comfortable sexual relationship, which she openly enjoys. CeeCee, however, begs Sheridan on a regular basis to allow her to get with Ruth, which he tries to dissuade at every turn.

Clearly CeeCee is bisexual and in a somewhat co-dependent relationship with Sheridan. I got CeeCee’s attraction to Ruth and that she wanted to have something with her, however, it was all set up to be doomed as long as Sheridan was involved and she kept working as a bootlegger, something she seemed to have a hard time walking away from for a reason we don’t know.

Although not a romance that follows the rules of romance, the author did manage to infuse a lot of loving energy between the women. The sex scenes were nicely written even if not too graphic and the setting felt authentic to the time period as well.

Mainly this is a story about Ruth’s journey from being small town sheltered girl to having the courage to go for what she wants and to be who she is. This is what her relationship with CeeCee gives her.

Heat level: 2-3- sensual sex scenes, not graphically written.

Grade: Liked it

Warning: this is not a romance that follows romance rules.

Review: Empty Without You: The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok by Eleanor Roosevelt, Rodger Streitmatter

Empty Without You:  

The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok

By  Eleanor Roosevelt, Rodger Streitmatter

Oct 4, 2000
Da Capo Press
344 pgs.

 In 1978, more than 3,500 letters written over a thirty-year friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok were discovered by archivists. Although the most explicit letters had been burned (Lorena told Eleanor's daughter, "Your mother wasn't always so very discreet in her letters to me"), the find was still electrifying enough to create controversy about the nature of the women's relationship. Historian Rodger Streitmatter has transcribed and annotated more than 300 of those letters—published here for the first time—and put them within the context of the lives of these two extraordinary women, allowing us to understand the role of this remarkable friendship in Roosevelt's transformation into a crusading First Lady.

 

I love, loved this book. I’ve always had an admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt just in how she was a strong woman who I’d read did most of FDR’s leg work around the country and that she was somewhat running the country for a while. Reading this book though gave me a much more intimate look at who she was as a woman in both her private and public life.

This book is about Eleanor’s relationship with reporter and writer Lorena Hickok. Until I read this I had no idea that there was any hint that Eleanor might have been bisexual or even how progressive she was about sexuality, gender roles and the rights of just about anyone outside of the default white privileged male.

But for the purposes of this review I will stick with her love story with Lorena, which this book focused on. What I liked about this book is that it’s basically a collection of letters that were written between Eleanor and Lorena that span a 30 year time. So it’s an actual firsthand account by both parties involved, which is far more interesting than a biographer who might spin things with his or her own slant based on second hand accounts.

First I’d like to say that I thought the author did a great job of not interpreting or reading too much into the meaning behind certain “erotic” statements in many of the letters. He writes some background on both women, but the book is mostly the letters. He also gave some background information preceding many of the letters to give the reader a better idea of events that preceded things mentioned in the letters.  

I found the letters fascinating. If you Google Eleanor and Lorena’s love story there are many sites that have all the “juicer” quotes from the letters. I found them to be not as racy as many would suggest, but still very intimate and highly suggestive of a romantic/ physical relationship. Most of the more interesting letters were from the first few years of their relationship. They wrote very often after those years, but those letters from the earlier years contained a lot of expression of passion for each other.

Most of them are from Eleanor to Lorena although later years the letters are more from Lorena.  After FDR died, Eleanor hired Lorena to archive a lot of the correspondence and Lorena finding those letters between her and Eleanor decided to burn many of them. So we’ll never know the extent of their love story, if it was more or not.

While many suggest they had a full on romantic/sexual relationship based on those letters, others have said that the way Eleanor expressed herself was a reflection of the time she was brought up in and not suggestive of a romantic relationship at all.

I would say that other things that happened or were expressed showed more about how their relationship was more than just a friendship. Lorena expressed a lot of jealousy about the lack of time that Eleanor could share with her, especially when she and Eleanor arranged going off together by themselves away from everyone for holidays but then would have that interrupted by people recognizing Eleanor and wanting attention, or Eleanor herself including others unintentionally. 

They spoke, or Eleanor did, of sharing a house together one day and Eleanor even fantasized about what type of furniture they’d have and how they would read together in bed at night.

Eleanor constantly told Lorena she loved her in a more intimate way then one would say I love you to a friend, and expressed despondence if she had not received a letter from or heard from Lorena by phone for more than a couple of hours or a day, which tells me maybe something more than a normal friendship.

Also they discussed several times, particularly Lorena, being worried about the talk about their relationship. Eleanor seemed less concerned. But she did refrain from telling Lorena she loved her when talking on the phone because some family were present, suggesting that to do so would have shown the extent of her love of Lorena and that it was of a nature that others would find unacceptable.

Some of the letters do show that they were physical on some level. Whether it was more than some kissing or cuddling that was actually mentioned, it’s hard to say. Lorena was a lesbian. So it’s not a stretch that due to the women being so close that they wrote pages and pages of letters to each other daily expressing constant love for each other and desire to be together that Lorena might have seduced Eleanor and that Eleanor might have reciprocated.

Another thing that suggested they were more than just friends is how deeply both felt pain at not being able to be what the other needed or wanted. Particularly Eleanor often expressed sadness that she caused Lorena pain.

What I learned from these letters is that Eleanor was an extremely progressive and liberal minded woman, especially for her time. She was very close friends with two lesbian couples and spent a lot of time with them. So she wasn’t closed off to the idea of lesbian relationships.

Later on in their lives, as Eleanor’s duties as first lady took up most of her time and she became more public property as it were, their letters became less passionate and more about just love and support for each other. It’s clear that Eleanor felt responsible for Lorena and helped her to get jobs and even sent her money often to help her out. Lorena was not in the best of health and it was hard for her to make enough money to live on. And even though years after they met Lorena had an affair with a female judge, she always wrote to Eleanor that Eleanor was the one she loved the most.

Until the end they expressed their love for each other even if not as passionate as those first couple of years.

All around this was an amazing book. It’s just fascinating to think that a First Lady would have had as colorful a personal life while being First Lady and under the public eye and during a time period that were such relationships were more taboo. 

It was also a really sad book for me to read. It’s a kind of bittersweet love story because you know how it went and ended and I wonder if they would have had their love story if both were not in the public eye or lived under different conditions.

Rating: LOVED!