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The Lioness of Boston
A deeply evocative novel of the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a daring visionary who created an inimitable legacy in American art and transformed the city of Boston itself.
By the time Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her Italian palazzo-style home as a museum in 1903 to showcase her collection of old masters, antiques, and objects d’art, she was already well-known for scandalizing Boston’s polite society. But when Isabella first arrived in Boston in 1861, she was twenty years old, newly married to a wealthy trader, and unsure of herself. Puzzled by the frosty reception she received from stuffy bluebloods, she strived to fit in. After two devastating tragedies and rejection from upper-society, Isabella discovered her spirit and cast off expectations.
Freed by travel, Isabella explores the world of art, ideas, and letters, meeting such kindred spirits as Henry James and Oscar Wilde. From London and Paris to Egypt and Asia, she develops a keen eye for paintings and objects, and meets feminists ready to transform nineteenth century thinking in the twentieth century. Isabella becomes an eccentric trailblazer, painted by John Singer Sargent in a portrait of daring décolletage, and fond of such stunts as walking a pair of lions in the Boston Public Garden.
The Lioness of Boston is a portrait of what society expected a woman’s life to be, shattered by a courageous soul who rebelled and was determined to live on her own terms.
By the time Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her Italian palazzo-style home as a museum in 1903 to showcase her collection of old masters, antiques, and objects d’art, she was already well-known for scandalizing Boston’s polite society. But when Isabella first arrived in Boston in 1861, she was twenty years old, newly married to a wealthy trader, and unsure of herself. Puzzled by the frosty reception she received from stuffy bluebloods, she strived to fit in. After two devastating tragedies and rejection from upper-society, Isabella discovered her spirit and cast off expectations.
Freed by travel, Isabella explores the world of art, ideas, and letters, meeting such kindred spirits as Henry James and Oscar Wilde. From London and Paris to Egypt and Asia, she develops a keen eye for paintings and objects, and meets feminists ready to transform nineteenth century thinking in the twentieth century. Isabella becomes an eccentric trailblazer, painted by John Singer Sargent in a portrait of daring décolletage, and fond of such stunts as walking a pair of lions in the Boston Public Garden.
The Lioness of Boston is a portrait of what society expected a woman’s life to be, shattered by a courageous soul who rebelled and was determined to live on her own terms.
356 pages, Hardcover
First published April 11, 2023
1858 people are currently reading
10619 people want to read
About the author
Emily Franklin
34 books133 followersGrowing up, Emily Franklin wanted to be “a singing, tap-dancing doctor who writes books.”
Having learned early on that she has little to no dancing ability, she left the tap world behind, studied at Oxford University, and received an undergraduate degree concentrating in writing and neuroscience from Sarah Lawrence College. Though she gave serious thought to a career in medicine, eventually that career followed her dancing dreams.
After extensive travel, some “character-building” relationships, and a stint as a chef, Emily went back to school at Dartmouth where she skied (or fished, depending on the season) daily, wrote a few screenplays, and earned her Master’s Degree in writing and media studies.
While editing medical texts and dreaming about writing a novel, Emily went to Martha’s Vineyard on a whim and met her future husband who is, of course, a doctor. And a pianist. He plays. They sing. They get married. He finishes medical school, they have a child, she writes a novel. Emily’s dreams are realized. She writes books.
Emily Franklin is the author of two adult novels, The Girls' Almanac and Liner Notes and more than a dozen books for young adults including the critically-acclaimed seven book fiction series for teens, The Principles of Love. Other young adult books include The Other Half of Me the Chalet Girls series, and At Face Value, a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac (coming in September 2008).
She edited the anthologies It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths about Life in Your Twenties and How to Spell Chanukah: 18 Writers Celebrate 8 Nights of Lights. She is co-editor of Before: Short Stories about Pregnancy from Our Top Writers.
Her book of essays and recipes, Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, 102 New Recipes ~ A Memoir of Tasting, Testing, and Discovery in the Kitchen will be published by Hyperion.
Emily’s work has appeared in The Boston Globe and the Mississippi Review as well as in many anthologies including Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes, When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School by Today's Top Writers, and Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers on the Mother-Daughter Bond. Emily writes regularly about food and parenting for national magazines and newspapers. She travels, teaches writing seminars, and speaks on panels, but does not tap dance. Emily Franklin lives outside of Boston with her husband and their four young children.
Having learned early on that she has little to no dancing ability, she left the tap world behind, studied at Oxford University, and received an undergraduate degree concentrating in writing and neuroscience from Sarah Lawrence College. Though she gave serious thought to a career in medicine, eventually that career followed her dancing dreams.
After extensive travel, some “character-building” relationships, and a stint as a chef, Emily went back to school at Dartmouth where she skied (or fished, depending on the season) daily, wrote a few screenplays, and earned her Master’s Degree in writing and media studies.
While editing medical texts and dreaming about writing a novel, Emily went to Martha’s Vineyard on a whim and met her future husband who is, of course, a doctor. And a pianist. He plays. They sing. They get married. He finishes medical school, they have a child, she writes a novel. Emily’s dreams are realized. She writes books.
Emily Franklin is the author of two adult novels, The Girls' Almanac and Liner Notes and more than a dozen books for young adults including the critically-acclaimed seven book fiction series for teens, The Principles of Love. Other young adult books include The Other Half of Me the Chalet Girls series, and At Face Value, a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac (coming in September 2008).
She edited the anthologies It's a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths about Life in Your Twenties and How to Spell Chanukah: 18 Writers Celebrate 8 Nights of Lights. She is co-editor of Before: Short Stories about Pregnancy from Our Top Writers.
Her book of essays and recipes, Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, 102 New Recipes ~ A Memoir of Tasting, Testing, and Discovery in the Kitchen will be published by Hyperion.
Emily’s work has appeared in The Boston Globe and the Mississippi Review as well as in many anthologies including Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes, When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School by Today's Top Writers, and Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers on the Mother-Daughter Bond. Emily writes regularly about food and parenting for national magazines and newspapers. She travels, teaches writing seminars, and speaks on panels, but does not tap dance. Emily Franklin lives outside of Boston with her husband and their four young children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 888 reviews
May 23, 2023
Overall a good story, but my opinion is too much time is spent in the beginning of the book about how Isabella Stewart Gardner doesn’t fit in. The author just won’t let it go and probably 50-75 pages could be cut without affecting the story arc. I love the ISG Museum and wish more time was focused on her collecting and arrangement of her pieces (all of which is fictionalized, I realize).
April 26, 2023
I wanted to love this book. I live just outside Boston and live the ISG Museum and I’ve read a lot about her. I also love historical fiction based on real people and events. But I felt the book shortchanged me by front loading all the character and relationship development while the last quarter of the book was made up almost exclusively of correspondence. It left me feeling like the author just got tired and wanted to end the book. I wanted more on the development and outcome of the museum. What happened with her close relationship to her sister-in-law and nephews? The last part of the book just felt strangely abrupt. There was a lot I liked but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
March 25, 2024
Have you ever heard of a quagga? Of Frozen Charlottes? Of a card game called Happy Families from the mid-18oo's? This book was so interesting and I did quite a bit of looking things up, which is unusual for me. A quagga is actually an extinct animal, which is a cross between a horse and a zebra. Really, look it up, it was so interesting to see a picture of this.
I actually really enjoyed reading this book. Its more of a character driven and historical novel, than it is a fictional novel loosely based in history with twists and turns. The Lioness of Boston refers to none other than Isabella Stewart Gardiner, and her famous art (and people) collection, and her incredible museum today, the Isabella Stuart Gardiner Museum which is near the MFA and Northeastern University. The book was written by someone in my town, who is a mother of four, whose kids go to our elementary, middle, and high school, and college, possibly even beyond that. She is clearly a neighbor, though I have never met her. I (we) was sure impressed with her book though. The woman from the chocolate shop from the street where my office is located, she and I always talk books. She told me our book club should do it, and this author loves to come to visit tghe local bookclubs. We never ended up in time inviting her to come, but the chocolate shop owner gave us the wonderful idea, that we should all read the book and then plan a social event to visit the museum together, which we are doing in four weeks. We have planned a day at the museum together, further enriched by the reading and discussion of this book.
My husband and I just love HBO's the Gilded Age, I also really enjoyed the Social Graces, by I think Renee Rosen. I feel like I have read other books around this time. But the one we all agreed we were reminded of, is the Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. Isabelle/Belle is similar to Belle, in that she doesn't fit in. She doesn't belong, is strong for her time, has a brilliant mind, and our Isabelle has the desire to be awakened. In both books, Bernhardt Berenson plays a role, and in this one there are many well known names. John Singer Sargeant, Zorn, Whistler, Henry James, (Frank) Marion Crawford and others. An interview with the author told one of us that she really had hoped to also teach something of that time and the masters and the events surrounding that age and the building of this collection. And that not everything was an exact match, because she was building a narrative and a story arc to try to make it compelling.
I enjoyed her writing and indeed learned a lot. Isabella Stewart Gardiner was not necessarily likable as a character. We agreed that while we were interested in her, we did not necessarily care for her like we were for Belle de Costa Greene. Isabella had so many losses, and so much heartbreak. Grief, exclusion, the need to be seen, the desire for "awakening" were all themes in the book, and she does come into her own, and created something of her life worth still preserving today. I really enjoyed the book. And I am really looking forward to the Museum.
I actually really enjoyed reading this book. Its more of a character driven and historical novel, than it is a fictional novel loosely based in history with twists and turns. The Lioness of Boston refers to none other than Isabella Stewart Gardiner, and her famous art (and people) collection, and her incredible museum today, the Isabella Stuart Gardiner Museum which is near the MFA and Northeastern University. The book was written by someone in my town, who is a mother of four, whose kids go to our elementary, middle, and high school, and college, possibly even beyond that. She is clearly a neighbor, though I have never met her. I (we) was sure impressed with her book though. The woman from the chocolate shop from the street where my office is located, she and I always talk books. She told me our book club should do it, and this author loves to come to visit tghe local bookclubs. We never ended up in time inviting her to come, but the chocolate shop owner gave us the wonderful idea, that we should all read the book and then plan a social event to visit the museum together, which we are doing in four weeks. We have planned a day at the museum together, further enriched by the reading and discussion of this book.
My husband and I just love HBO's the Gilded Age, I also really enjoyed the Social Graces, by I think Renee Rosen. I feel like I have read other books around this time. But the one we all agreed we were reminded of, is the Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. Isabelle/Belle is similar to Belle, in that she doesn't fit in. She doesn't belong, is strong for her time, has a brilliant mind, and our Isabelle has the desire to be awakened. In both books, Bernhardt Berenson plays a role, and in this one there are many well known names. John Singer Sargeant, Zorn, Whistler, Henry James, (Frank) Marion Crawford and others. An interview with the author told one of us that she really had hoped to also teach something of that time and the masters and the events surrounding that age and the building of this collection. And that not everything was an exact match, because she was building a narrative and a story arc to try to make it compelling.
I enjoyed her writing and indeed learned a lot. Isabella Stewart Gardiner was not necessarily likable as a character. We agreed that while we were interested in her, we did not necessarily care for her like we were for Belle de Costa Greene. Isabella had so many losses, and so much heartbreak. Grief, exclusion, the need to be seen, the desire for "awakening" were all themes in the book, and she does come into her own, and created something of her life worth still preserving today. I really enjoyed the book. And I am really looking forward to the Museum.
August 30, 2023
Ugh! I’ve been to the Gardner Museum and know about the heist, but I didn’t know much about Isabella Stewart Gardner. This is a work of fiction, and I found myself hoping that the ISG portrayed in this book was nothing like the real life woman. It’s a tedious story about a self-obsessed woman who, like Forrest Gump, tromps through history (in her lovely blue boots) meeting and inspiring a who’s who of 19th century art and thought. No wonder no one liked ISG - she’s unbearable and so is this book.
August 14, 2023
I have enjoyed women-focused historical fiction and this did not hit the mark for me. Lots of time spent on the feeling of not fitting in and less on the unimaginable grief of multiple miscarriages and death of toddler. I found I enjoyed reading about Isabella and her life and philanthropy through a quick internet search and like it more. Another interesting lack was the Civil War was occurring and there was little more than a cursory mention. This was surprising because Bella’s husband works in trade and infrastructure. I kept waiting for even a little more than a very brief mention.
October 15, 2023
I wanted to love this book, but found it dry and wordy. It was a tedious story about a self-obsessed women ahead of her time. I ended up skipping pages and skimming most of it. I still look forward to visiting the museum, though. And I watched the Netflix documentary about the art heist - that was intriguing.
April 11, 2023
In The Lioness of Boston, author Emily Franklin makes a fascinating case for following the beat of one’s own drum. The thoroughly researched historical fiction account of Isabella Stewart Gardner deftly depicts a woman coming into her own within the confines of high-society Boston as perched on the cusp then seen all the way through the Gilded Age.
The four-part story begins in 1861 and sweeps through changing times and multiple continents to 1924, beginning in the first-person voice of a young bride from New York, who struggles to find acceptance in the inhospitable milieu of her blue-blooded husband’s family, only to triumph in the end by leaving her culturally advantageous, lasting mark upon the city that once shunned her.
It is 1861, and 20-year-old Isabella Stewart Gardner is too naïve to realize she is unacceptably unconventional. Newly married to Jack Gardner—the brother of her childhood schoolmate—she dons the blinders of optimism, now that she’s joined Jack’s prominent Boston family. She speaks to the heart of every woman who knows she is totally unique while being widely perceived as sorely different. Isabella contemplates her predicament and says, “Marriage seemed to bring with it an end not only of girlhood but of being in the world as a person with potential. I wanted to hold fast to that possibility—that there was more for me still.”
Isabella’s sister-in-law Harriet advises, “Everyone is watching to see if you will settle in to Boston life. . . . Jack’s standing allows entry, but time and time again you prove that you will not live up to expectations.” When Harriet takes Isabella to the ladies sewing circle, which doubles as one of society’s litmus tests, the outspoken Isabella is a failure. In the New York Times, Isabella reads of Boston’s sewing circle, “Not to be admitted to these mysterious coteries is a species of social ostracism of which the severity is perhaps fully appreciated by the native born Bostonian.”
Although Isabella is made aware that she wears the wrong shoes, shares her thoughts without a filter, and fraternizes with the wrong people, she is disarmingly likable and persists in cultivating her own interests. When she forms friendships with men in influential positions having to do with literature, the zoological society, and natural sciences, she becomes involved with areas
beyond the customary purview of women and grows to be an object of community fascination to the point where she is frequently written about in the local paper.
When Isabella’s standing as a young wife and mother promises to recommend her, fate has the last word, and when a heartbreaking and life-defining event occurs, the resilient Isabella proves she is constitutionally incapable of being fully deterred.
As time moves on, and in the wake of multiple deaths of friends and family members close to the Gardners, Jack takes Isabella to London to dislodge her grief and revive her spirits. While abroad, Isabella aligns with an artistic community of creative misfits who eventually make good. She befriends such artists as Manet, Cezanne, Renoir, and Whistler, who gather around Isabella as she develops a keen interest in art, which comes to include multicultural antiques, objets d’art, and all that pertains to visual refinement.
In Boston, Isabella fraternizes with Oscar Wilde, Edith Wharton, poet Julia Ward Howe, and novelist Francis Marion Crawford, with whom she begins a clandestine relationship. Through the years, as Jack and Isabella travel back and forth from Boston to Europe, Isabella’s relationships with her iconic circle of friends makes for fascinating correspondence, which Franklin shares throughout the story in a series of interspersed letters that cleverly enlighten the reader to the personal interests of the correspondents, while bringing into focus a woman’s place amid the nuances of the times.
The crowning glory of this multilayered story is the author’s brilliant use of language, which is pitch and tone perfect in animating Isabella Gardner and all other characters, giving us great understanding of the time’s voice and concerns, in multiple settings. The story revolves around well-heeled people and all that makes up their opulent world. The vivid details given to art, literary achievement, and master paintings are seamlessly part of the story.
Isabella Stewart Gardner is driven by the desire to fulfill her own potential. She’s a woman on a personal mission against the judgmental eyes of society. In her written correspondence to Charles Eliot Norton, a professor at Harvard University, Isabella writes of her long-range vision, “Art is not so much the memory of the truth. It’s the memory of what we wish those moments were. . . . I think I should like to collect those moments. I mean to explain somehow the connection I feel between art and memory. A museum of the mind.” Later, she shares the mission statement for the museum she ultimately builds, “I would give the world—or Boston at least—a place, and by doing so it would be as though I were giving the world my own body, my own mind. Here, I would say. Take me.”
The Lioness of Boston is a captivating story of a significant woman in Boston’s history who left that city a cultural legacy to last the ages. This beautiful novel will appeal to those who love masterful historical fiction, literary fiction, and stories of triumphant women who leave an indelible mark.
Review as it appears in the New York Journal of Books
The four-part story begins in 1861 and sweeps through changing times and multiple continents to 1924, beginning in the first-person voice of a young bride from New York, who struggles to find acceptance in the inhospitable milieu of her blue-blooded husband’s family, only to triumph in the end by leaving her culturally advantageous, lasting mark upon the city that once shunned her.
It is 1861, and 20-year-old Isabella Stewart Gardner is too naïve to realize she is unacceptably unconventional. Newly married to Jack Gardner—the brother of her childhood schoolmate—she dons the blinders of optimism, now that she’s joined Jack’s prominent Boston family. She speaks to the heart of every woman who knows she is totally unique while being widely perceived as sorely different. Isabella contemplates her predicament and says, “Marriage seemed to bring with it an end not only of girlhood but of being in the world as a person with potential. I wanted to hold fast to that possibility—that there was more for me still.”
Isabella’s sister-in-law Harriet advises, “Everyone is watching to see if you will settle in to Boston life. . . . Jack’s standing allows entry, but time and time again you prove that you will not live up to expectations.” When Harriet takes Isabella to the ladies sewing circle, which doubles as one of society’s litmus tests, the outspoken Isabella is a failure. In the New York Times, Isabella reads of Boston’s sewing circle, “Not to be admitted to these mysterious coteries is a species of social ostracism of which the severity is perhaps fully appreciated by the native born Bostonian.”
Although Isabella is made aware that she wears the wrong shoes, shares her thoughts without a filter, and fraternizes with the wrong people, she is disarmingly likable and persists in cultivating her own interests. When she forms friendships with men in influential positions having to do with literature, the zoological society, and natural sciences, she becomes involved with areas
beyond the customary purview of women and grows to be an object of community fascination to the point where she is frequently written about in the local paper.
When Isabella’s standing as a young wife and mother promises to recommend her, fate has the last word, and when a heartbreaking and life-defining event occurs, the resilient Isabella proves she is constitutionally incapable of being fully deterred.
As time moves on, and in the wake of multiple deaths of friends and family members close to the Gardners, Jack takes Isabella to London to dislodge her grief and revive her spirits. While abroad, Isabella aligns with an artistic community of creative misfits who eventually make good. She befriends such artists as Manet, Cezanne, Renoir, and Whistler, who gather around Isabella as she develops a keen interest in art, which comes to include multicultural antiques, objets d’art, and all that pertains to visual refinement.
In Boston, Isabella fraternizes with Oscar Wilde, Edith Wharton, poet Julia Ward Howe, and novelist Francis Marion Crawford, with whom she begins a clandestine relationship. Through the years, as Jack and Isabella travel back and forth from Boston to Europe, Isabella’s relationships with her iconic circle of friends makes for fascinating correspondence, which Franklin shares throughout the story in a series of interspersed letters that cleverly enlighten the reader to the personal interests of the correspondents, while bringing into focus a woman’s place amid the nuances of the times.
The crowning glory of this multilayered story is the author’s brilliant use of language, which is pitch and tone perfect in animating Isabella Gardner and all other characters, giving us great understanding of the time’s voice and concerns, in multiple settings. The story revolves around well-heeled people and all that makes up their opulent world. The vivid details given to art, literary achievement, and master paintings are seamlessly part of the story.
Isabella Stewart Gardner is driven by the desire to fulfill her own potential. She’s a woman on a personal mission against the judgmental eyes of society. In her written correspondence to Charles Eliot Norton, a professor at Harvard University, Isabella writes of her long-range vision, “Art is not so much the memory of the truth. It’s the memory of what we wish those moments were. . . . I think I should like to collect those moments. I mean to explain somehow the connection I feel between art and memory. A museum of the mind.” Later, she shares the mission statement for the museum she ultimately builds, “I would give the world—or Boston at least—a place, and by doing so it would be as though I were giving the world my own body, my own mind. Here, I would say. Take me.”
The Lioness of Boston is a captivating story of a significant woman in Boston’s history who left that city a cultural legacy to last the ages. This beautiful novel will appeal to those who love masterful historical fiction, literary fiction, and stories of triumphant women who leave an indelible mark.
Review as it appears in the New York Journal of Books
February 7, 2024
Isabella Stewart Gardner’s story should be a fascinating and inspiring one, but the author missed the mark on this one. Fictional biography, even if the author doesn’t want to call it that, is tricky. The author is shaping the character’s personality with her choice of words, and that carries a lot of responsibility. In this case, a woman who should have been dynamic and interesting, comes across as whiny, lacking in substance, and someone who is addicted to buying art, not always necessarily because she feels a connection to it but rather because she has a lot of money to spend and wants a lot of art. I got so sick of reading her question what her purpose was or what she would become. Her obsession with having a child so that she could fit in when she’d already made it clear that she had no interest in playing by the rules was a huge disconnect for me, one of many throughout the book.
ISG runs in a social set bursting with talent, but her conversations and correspondence with great artists, authors, and academics seem simple, unremarkable. The author doesn’t manage to capture the spark that ISG must have had, the spark that compelled so many great talents of her time to seek her company. I was looking forward to reading this book, but it didn’t
live up to its potential.
ISG runs in a social set bursting with talent, but her conversations and correspondence with great artists, authors, and academics seem simple, unremarkable. The author doesn’t manage to capture the spark that ISG must have had, the spark that compelled so many great talents of her time to seek her company. I was looking forward to reading this book, but it didn’t
live up to its potential.
May 12, 2023
ISG was a force to be reckoned with and her story is truly fascinating, but I found the pacing to be too slow throughout a lot of this novel which made it challenging for me to stay engaged.
May 13, 2023
Since Isabella burnt all of hers letters and it said so in the book it’s funny that the book was written around these “letters”. Of course, the book is a historical fiction. The book made me interested in all the artists that she befriended. I looked up the artists and their art as I went along. I do love art and even though the story isn’t true in every sense it makes me want to visit the museum again in light of this story.
November 6, 2023
Never, ever did I:
think that (yet) another book about Isabella Stewart Gardner was going to make me cry. But The Lioness of Boston did, and hooray for a book about a much documented personage that can move a reader to that level of emotion. Go, you Red Sox, and go, you Emily Franklin! Thank you for making ISG come alive in a way that took her off of the wall and into a different context….for making her less of an icon and more of a living, breathing woman, vulnerable enough to be hurt, brave enough to be audacious, loyal enough to be a supportive friend, and determined enough to make a vision come true. Dear reader, I admit that there were a few imagined moments of romantic fancy that seemed silly to me, but all in all, this historical novel of a 19th-century woman of means, intelligence, and drive hit all the right notes. Doughnuts, champagne, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Does anyone have a problem with that?
think that (yet) another book about Isabella Stewart Gardner was going to make me cry. But The Lioness of Boston did, and hooray for a book about a much documented personage that can move a reader to that level of emotion. Go, you Red Sox, and go, you Emily Franklin! Thank you for making ISG come alive in a way that took her off of the wall and into a different context….for making her less of an icon and more of a living, breathing woman, vulnerable enough to be hurt, brave enough to be audacious, loyal enough to be a supportive friend, and determined enough to make a vision come true. Dear reader, I admit that there were a few imagined moments of romantic fancy that seemed silly to me, but all in all, this historical novel of a 19th-century woman of means, intelligence, and drive hit all the right notes. Doughnuts, champagne, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Does anyone have a problem with that?
January 31, 2023
The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin is a great historical fiction and biography of a fascinating woman: Isabella Stewart Gardner.
I went into this book shamefully knowing very little about Isabella, and I am so glad I took the time to read this gem and find out about the fascinating, trailblazing, stunning, and impressive life of this woman who lived well before her time at the beginning of the 20th century in the States. To see all that she came up against, all that she championed, all that she overcame…but yet seeing all the untapped potential…of this woman that lived at a time and in a society that had such restrictions, boundaries, and suppressions…it just made for an excellent story.
I learned so much, and had an excellent time doing it.
5/5 stars
Thank you EW and David R. Godine, Publisher/Ingram Publisher Services for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 4/11/23.
I went into this book shamefully knowing very little about Isabella, and I am so glad I took the time to read this gem and find out about the fascinating, trailblazing, stunning, and impressive life of this woman who lived well before her time at the beginning of the 20th century in the States. To see all that she came up against, all that she championed, all that she overcame…but yet seeing all the untapped potential…of this woman that lived at a time and in a society that had such restrictions, boundaries, and suppressions…it just made for an excellent story.
I learned so much, and had an excellent time doing it.
5/5 stars
Thank you EW and David R. Godine, Publisher/Ingram Publisher Services for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 4/11/23.
June 1, 2023
I had high hopes for this one. I waited to get it on Audible.com but after 5 weeks I gave up and purchased the hardcover from Titcomb's (Sandwich, MA) Bookshop in conjunction with a visit to the ISG Museum in Boston. I love reading about women's history, literature, travel, and art. No brainer.
I felt the book was poorly edited. The pacing was off, especially in the final 2/3 of the book which dragged along. The author, EF, did a good job of "name dropping" as well as "event dropping." I don't like it when it occurs in face to face conversation. In a book, it is worse! Too often, people (Frederick Douglass) or events (Chicago World's Fair) were dropped into a paragraph (or single sentence) only because it coincided with the ISG chronology. The letters (there are many) are well written "in period" style but they are all fictionalized. How I wished for (even just one) an authentic letter that was written by ISG. There had to be something other than EF's POV. In this instance, I think ISG was a lot more than how this book portrayed her. It has made me curious to read more about her.
I felt the book was poorly edited. The pacing was off, especially in the final 2/3 of the book which dragged along. The author, EF, did a good job of "name dropping" as well as "event dropping." I don't like it when it occurs in face to face conversation. In a book, it is worse! Too often, people (Frederick Douglass) or events (Chicago World's Fair) were dropped into a paragraph (or single sentence) only because it coincided with the ISG chronology. The letters (there are many) are well written "in period" style but they are all fictionalized. How I wished for (even just one) an authentic letter that was written by ISG. There had to be something other than EF's POV. In this instance, I think ISG was a lot more than how this book portrayed her. It has made me curious to read more about her.
January 2, 2025
I’m bummed! This was a slog when I expected it to be a home run. I’m fascinated by Isabella Stewart Gardner, but I just did not enjoy the writing (how many times can one compare oneself to a potted plant, a piece of cutlery, or any other household object????). I think I’d rather have read a biography than whatever this was. 2.5/5
July 9, 2024
I think this book probably leans heavily to the fiction side of historical fiction. I wish there had been more time spent on how she came to collect her artworks. I haven’t been to this museum so it’s time for another trip to Boston.
April 10, 2024
This was supposed to portray ISG as (in Franklin’s words) ‘strong, quirky, determined, brash, and ahead-of-her-time’. Her character was certainly ahead-of-her-time but her strength and determination got lost in her obsession with fitting in, which was repeated so often that it stopped resonating. Her character developed very little over the course of the story and I spent most of the second half hoping that this wasn’t an accurate reflection of ISG irl.
The correspondence was overused and felt like a cheap way to time travel and tell major plot points. A lot of Franklin’s writing is pretty but it felt like she spent more time trying to make the story quotable rather than bringing the characters or setting to life.
Overall, this fell a little flat for me and so did the museum when I visited, which was a total bummer.
The correspondence was overused and felt like a cheap way to time travel and tell major plot points. A lot of Franklin’s writing is pretty but it felt like she spent more time trying to make the story quotable rather than bringing the characters or setting to life.
Overall, this fell a little flat for me and so did the museum when I visited, which was a total bummer.
February 14, 2024
I was curious enough about this fictionalized version of Isabella Stewart Gardner that I was able to finish the book. But overall, it was a little tedious. Isabella bemoaning about not fitting in took up too much time.
January 19, 2024
1/18/24 review
If you want to read a book about an incredibly privileged filthy-rich white woman whining non-stop about how life is unfair, read this one.
The author also projects so much contemporary expectations on her - tell me how she made this nineteenth century character into an activist for women's rights, African Americans, LGBT rights, and Jewish rights, all while profiting off of slavery and benefiting immensely from her position among the Boston Brahmins.
Only thing I liked about this book was the mention of different places in Boston, many of which were being constructed at the time this novel was written and still exist today. Characters and plot were all so ugghhhh
On a serious note, Isabella is portrayed as someone who is just supremely ungrateful and unhappy about everything (despite being a millionaire and married to a millionaire) and she fills the gap within her by buying artwork from all over the world, as though this will help her make her place in it. True, in the end she established the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which still exists in Boston today, but the book made it seem so shallow and self-centered.
12/30/23 initial thoughts
Really enjoying reading about different streets and places in Boston - places that I know about and pass by frequently - but in the 1860s.
BUT I'm having a hard time sympathizing with Isabella.
1. There is a constant framing of "men vs women" - Isabella feeling like as a woman her thoughts/words don't matter and that men have all the power etc...despite being in love with her husband and loving him for valuing her and her mind. So it feels like a contemporary writer shaping this historical story with her own modern/feminist expectations...whereas if you contrast it with literature written by/about/for women at this time and place (say Little Women by LM Alcott, written in the 1860s in Massachusetts), there are none of these assumptions.
2. Isabella is a very privileged white woman. So listening to her whine about that and about not fitting in (despite being invited to dinners/luncheons/sewing groups among the Boston Brahmins, the most elite families in Boston) is kind of off-putting. Like she's super spoiled and privileged but neither she nor the narrators recognize that. Like, I get it - she wants to be a mother so she can fit into her social group, and she's very loud and opinionated which makes her judged by the elite around her. But still, she's just as wealthy as any of them, and comes from just as wealthy a family as she married into, so the narrative isn't doing a good job of making me understand why she feels like the oddball.
If you want to read a book about an incredibly privileged filthy-rich white woman whining non-stop about how life is unfair, read this one.
The author also projects so much contemporary expectations on her - tell me how she made this nineteenth century character into an activist for women's rights, African Americans, LGBT rights, and Jewish rights, all while profiting off of slavery and benefiting immensely from her position among the Boston Brahmins.
Only thing I liked about this book was the mention of different places in Boston, many of which were being constructed at the time this novel was written and still exist today. Characters and plot were all so ugghhhh
On a serious note, Isabella is portrayed as someone who is just supremely ungrateful and unhappy about everything (despite being a millionaire and married to a millionaire) and she fills the gap within her by buying artwork from all over the world, as though this will help her make her place in it. True, in the end she established the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which still exists in Boston today, but the book made it seem so shallow and self-centered.
12/30/23 initial thoughts
Really enjoying reading about different streets and places in Boston - places that I know about and pass by frequently - but in the 1860s.
BUT I'm having a hard time sympathizing with Isabella.
1. There is a constant framing of "men vs women" - Isabella feeling like as a woman her thoughts/words don't matter and that men have all the power etc...despite being in love with her husband and loving him for valuing her and her mind. So it feels like a contemporary writer shaping this historical story with her own modern/feminist expectations...whereas if you contrast it with literature written by/about/for women at this time and place (say Little Women by LM Alcott, written in the 1860s in Massachusetts), there are none of these assumptions.
2. Isabella is a very privileged white woman. So listening to her whine about that and about not fitting in (despite being invited to dinners/luncheons/sewing groups among the Boston Brahmins, the most elite families in Boston) is kind of off-putting. Like she's super spoiled and privileged but neither she nor the narrators recognize that. Like, I get it - she wants to be a mother so she can fit into her social group, and she's very loud and opinionated which makes her judged by the elite around her. But still, she's just as wealthy as any of them, and comes from just as wealthy a family as she married into, so the narrative isn't doing a good job of making me understand why she feels like the oddball.
July 12, 2023
4.5…rounded up. I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum twenty years ago in Boston, and was fascinated. Now her story comes out! I will settle for fiction based on history, as there was so much known history. Well written, a real encapsulation of life from the Civil War onward for a woman of privilege who never fit the mold of her era, a mold we cannot even fathom!
February 7, 2024
Meh. It was good at the beginning with lots of character development that led me to believe that it would continue, and I was wrong. Towards the last bit, it was all about correspondence back-and-forth between famous people who also didn’t have enough character development to make it interesting. Did not finish.
May 1, 2023
The first 2/3 of the book really kept me engaged. I could barely get through the rest, I just lost interest in the story.
August 29, 2023
I'm really debating on putting a lower rating on this book. I thought this would be a tale that described the beauty of art and gave us a deep dive into the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner. It did only one of those things and to put it nicely: it made me groan. I get it, sometimes you cannot describe every feeling someone has had or felt in a book, especially historical fiction. But this? It focuses on some sad parts and the others. Absolutely nothing. I am amazed at how quickly I went through this book because, to be honest, I felt like it dragged.
SPOILERS DOWN BELOW!
Why did it literally just gloss over her husband's death? With him being such an important character in the book, it seemed like Emily Franklin just wanted to finish writing this book and let it end like that. The end feels rushed and sloppy and it barely talks about what Isabella Stewart Gardner is known for.
I get it, this book is about her realizing that she isn't what society wants in a woman in that time period and accepting herself. But it's just... UGH. Writing this review really reminded me how this book might be a one-star. Who knows, maybe I'll change it later down the line to 1 star.
SPOILERS DOWN BELOW!
Why did it literally just gloss over her husband's death? With him being such an important character in the book, it seemed like Emily Franklin just wanted to finish writing this book and let it end like that. The end feels rushed and sloppy and it barely talks about what Isabella Stewart Gardner is known for.
I get it, this book is about her realizing that she isn't what society wants in a woman in that time period and accepting herself. But it's just... UGH. Writing this review really reminded me how this book might be a one-star. Who knows, maybe I'll change it later down the line to 1 star.
February 28, 2025
I loved this book, but will say upfront I’m a biased lover of the ISG Museum and have gone many times over a number of years.
The book has many delightful bits of historical charm, from games to food to the development of Boston’s public spaces in the 1800s - I loved what I learned.
What I enjoyed the most was the first 2-3 sections of the book, which talked about her early life. I've seen some people complain about the ending seeming more rushed, but I actually like that. I read the story as a literary interpretation as to what drove her selection of (at least some of) her artworks, such as the Titian, the Madonna and Child’s, and some of her East Asian collection. I read the book in large part to further consider (really, guess) "Why this piece?" "Why in this room?" "Where'd this theme come from?"
The charm of the museum is the same charm as the book, for me: seeing how life affects not only art, but how individuals choose to engage with art. If you want to learn more deeply about ISG I definitely recommend picking up another one of many books/sources on the matter, but I still found this an engaging read.
The book has many delightful bits of historical charm, from games to food to the development of Boston’s public spaces in the 1800s - I loved what I learned.
What I enjoyed the most was the first 2-3 sections of the book, which talked about her early life. I've seen some people complain about the ending seeming more rushed, but I actually like that. I read the story as a literary interpretation as to what drove her selection of (at least some of) her artworks, such as the Titian, the Madonna and Child’s, and some of her East Asian collection. I read the book in large part to further consider (really, guess) "Why this piece?" "Why in this room?" "Where'd this theme come from?"
The charm of the museum is the same charm as the book, for me: seeing how life affects not only art, but how individuals choose to engage with art. If you want to learn more deeply about ISG I definitely recommend picking up another one of many books/sources on the matter, but I still found this an engaging read.
October 2, 2024
I live in Boston, I love Isabella Stewart Gardner's Museum. I love what I know about her. She was an adventurous, interesting, curious woman ahead of her time.
This novel captured NONE of that. Miraculously, Franklin made ISG sound like a self-absorbed, petulant, boring snob. I kept waiting for ISG to "emerge" as the above described, but it never happened. Additionally, to think for a minute that ISG was a hip LGBTQ supporting feminist is pretty ludicrous when the author simultaneously depicts her as being pretty clueless about many things despite her world travels. She is presented as a contradiction within the narrative itself as well as when compared to the known narrative of her life too much for me to have enjoyed this. A miss!
This novel captured NONE of that. Miraculously, Franklin made ISG sound like a self-absorbed, petulant, boring snob. I kept waiting for ISG to "emerge" as the above described, but it never happened. Additionally, to think for a minute that ISG was a hip LGBTQ supporting feminist is pretty ludicrous when the author simultaneously depicts her as being pretty clueless about many things despite her world travels. She is presented as a contradiction within the narrative itself as well as when compared to the known narrative of her life too much for me to have enjoyed this. A miss!
May 19, 2025
I don’t agree with the low ratings of this book. I love history but admittedly, I’m not quick to pick up a book that’s historical unless it’s purely fiction based on historical events. Despite this book being fairly history-heavy, I flew through it and enjoyed it. The writing was beautiful and of the time which I appreciated. It was also interesting to learn more about who Isabella Stewart Gardner was as a person and Bostonian. I think most women can relate to her plight. A beautiful testament to how sometimes the people society deem too different or unique are the trendsetters that drive cultural change. After reading this, I want to head to the museum again. A few lines I loved:
“I sometimes let my wit run ahead of my grace”
“I’m sure Boston will feel as I do —luckier for having you in it”
“There was a sad magic to being female, a disappearing of the self, combined with a glory that came from making everything appear easy”
“How filled I was with autumn air, with words, with thoughts, with the image of myself in a city I might appreciate and that might love me in return. Words and volume rose within my meager chest.”
“I sometimes let my wit run ahead of my grace”
“I’m sure Boston will feel as I do —luckier for having you in it”
“There was a sad magic to being female, a disappearing of the self, combined with a glory that came from making everything appear easy”
“How filled I was with autumn air, with words, with thoughts, with the image of myself in a city I might appreciate and that might love me in return. Words and volume rose within my meager chest.”
July 31, 2023
Great historical fiction about Isabella Stewart Gardner. She was a woman who came to Boston in the late 1800s. She tried to fit in with the high society ladies, but she was just very different. She spoke her mind, asked lots of questions and moved to the beat of her own drum. The book explores how this Renaissance woman sets out to find her purpose. She befriends many male intellectuals, artists, and authors. She begins to collect art and artifacts on her many world travels. Eventually she builds the Fenway Court Museum in Boston and leaves behind a legacy of many masterpieces and rare books that people can see today.
January 24, 2025
Simply not for me, but thankfully we still ball.
August 2, 2023
I received an ARC of this book via Adventures by the Book.
I wrote this review in collaboration with bookish event company Adventures By the Book based in Southern California, where I am interning. You can check out ABTB
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This stunning novel based on the true story of Isabella Stewart Gardner and her life as an arts collector and the trials and tribulations she, along with the women of her generation, were forced to undergo as they attempted to break out of society’s strictly casted molds for women. Franklin’s writing is strong, and her novel shows us the importance of art in its ability to connect individuals under a shared love.
I wrote this review in collaboration with bookish event company Adventures By the Book based in Southern California, where I am interning. You can check out ABTB
___________________________________________________________
This stunning novel based on the true story of Isabella Stewart Gardner and her life as an arts collector and the trials and tribulations she, along with the women of her generation, were forced to undergo as they attempted to break out of society’s strictly casted molds for women. Franklin’s writing is strong, and her novel shows us the importance of art in its ability to connect individuals under a shared love.
August 29, 2023
I really wanted to love this book. I have visited the ISG museum a number of times and I was very intrigued by her and wanted to know more about her. The book was long, drawn out and wordy. There was a lot of extra detail that in my opinion wasn’t really needed. ISG’s life was complicated, sad and in the beginning what I felt; unfulfilling. As the book continued, she tried to find a way to make herself accepted but the Boston elite. The author combined the use of letters throughout the book.. that did break things up but as I said, the text was too drawn out. I almost didn’t finish it a few times, but I pushed through.
June 20, 2023
An eclectic culmination of a fearless female navigating through the trials and tribulations of life. Isabella Stewart Gardner stands true to be the Lioness of Boston and is depicted by Emily Franklin as the pioneer of Boston’s art scene in the Fens. I highly recommend this book to anyone from Massachusetts or to those who are inspired by female empowerment. We can still hear Isabella Stewart Gardener’s roar through the lasting impact she left behind.
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