White Houses by Amy Bloom

I am not really sure how I feel about this book. I didn't love it but I did. It is at times beautifully written, the love story of two women in a time when it was not ok, not accepted, not looked upon kindly, for two women to be in love and intimate. Add in the fact that one of the women is the First Lady of The United States and it gets that much more complicated. At other times it felt like a too heavy perfume, pretty at first but then clawing and too sweet and sticky, and just really hard to wash off.  

White Houses is a fictionalized telling based on the true story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok (Hick to her friends) and decades long love and friendship between the two women. The need for secrecy even when hidden in plain sight, Hick lives in the White House for awhile on two different occasions, takes its toll on their relationship. Bloom's telling of the story assumes that behind the scenes the affairs of FDR under his wife's nose were taking place at the same time as her lesbian encounters including this long term relationship with Hick were happening under his and it was something they lived with. This may our may not be true but it does add to the drama of their love affair and the difficulty in living their fullest, best life. Not only was she married with children, but her husband was President which made Eleanor feel like she couldn't leave and start her life with Hick. And then things, life, happens, and they never quite get it together, never start and live the life they talked so often of "someday" having. 

The heartache felt by Hick after the death of Eleanor is palpable and I hurt for her at the same time as this was one of the sections that starts out beautifully and for me went back and forth between beautiful and just too much, as I described at the start of this posting. 

Overall I liked the book and am glad I finally read it, is has been on my list since it was released. I may feel like it would have been better waiting for it to show up in paperback in the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table but it is what it is. And it is a relatively quick read, so no real regrets. 

(Finished August 11, 2018)