Admittedly, I am not a Mark Twain enthusiast. I have read his work, of course, and even enjoyed it. However, the character of Twain and the man behind it - Samuel Clemens - never really interested me.

Without receiving this as a giveaway, I would have added the title to my neverending "to-read" list, and it likely would have fallen towards the bottom. I'm so glad that did not happen. Cullen did a wonderful job of taking a sidebar of history, performing a lot of research, and crafting memorable characters out of the historical subjects she chose.

Although Cullen has her own thoughts regarding what truly happened during Samuel Clemens' last decade, she did not make this a he-said/she-said affair full of one-dimensional characters and straw men. Each character shows their good side, as well as their bad. The motivations Cullen believes are driving them throughout this tumultuous period are well thought-out and never far-fetched. To cap it off, her understanding of social mores and the environment of the time add to the authenticity of the story. All in all, I was very impressed, and this book has kindled my interest in Samuel Clemens, Isabel Lyon, and Mark Twain. Recommended for Twain enthusiasts, romance fans, and those interested in late-19th / early-20th century history or literature.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program. ( )

My review of Twain's End is now up on Fresh Fiction!

"Reading this book opened my eyes to the man behind the pseudonym Mark Twain"

Read the whole review here! ( )

3.5 ( )

TWAIN'S END starts off as an entrancing tale with finely developed dialogue involving challenging alliances
revolving around Mark Twain's quick silver moods and horrible temper tantrums.

Unfortunately, it becomes repetitive, boring and predictable with his secretary Isabel's painfully stupid obedience to him and his daughter,

Sure wish this book had been more fiction than fact - what jerks Clemens and his Clara turned out to be! ( )

This novel, a historical fiction account of Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens and his relationship with his secretary Isabel Lyon, could have been so much better than it was. The writing is solid for the most part. However, I was distracted by a few editorial/proofreading misses (including mentioning Philip Keyes as the son of the man who wrote the Star Spangled Banner -- that should have been Philip Key) and at least one continuity error (Ossip Gabrilowitsch going upstairs with a hot water bottle for an earache, then returning downstairs a couple hours later with an ice bag on his ear). The copy I read from was the paperback edition, in which I would think those errors would have been corrected.

I found that this novel portrayed nearly every character as being unlikable, especially Clemens' daughter Clara. She was obviously a strong-willed person, who chafed under her father's larger-than-life personality, but in this novel she was also much too irritated by Helen Keller's characteristics -- wincing at her voice or observing that Helen Keller was vacant-eyed or sniffing the air like a rabbit. As a deaf person myself, I found this attitude offensive (and unsure whether it was even necessary for this novel) even though I know there are people in real life who have Clara's attitude.

As for why Helen Keller was in this novel, she was indeed a friend of Clemens. She is shown at the beginning and end of this book involved in a love-triangle with Annie Sullivan Macy and her husband, which may have been intended to mirror the alleged love triangle between Clemens, his secretary Isabel, and Clemens' wife.

I think I would have preferred to read a non-fiction account of Clemens' and Lyon's relationship over this novel. ( )