Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt’s marriage is one of the most celebrated and scrutinized partnerships in presidential history. It raised eyebrows in their lifetimes and has only become more controversial since their deaths. From FDR’s lifelong romance with Lucy Mercer to Eleanor’s purported lesbianism—and many scandals in between—the American public has never tired of speculating about the ties that bound these two headstrong individuals. Some claim that Eleanor sacrificed her personal happiness to accommodate FDR’s needs; others claim that the marriage was nothing more than a gracious façade for political convenience. No one has told the full story until now.
In this groundbreaking new account of the marriage, Hazel Rowley describes the remarkable courage and lack of convention—private and public—that kept FDR and Eleanor together. She reveals a partnership that was both supportive and daring. Franklin, especially, knew what he owed to Eleanor, who was not so much behind the scenes as heavily engaged in them. Their relationship was the product of FDR and Eleanor’s conscious efforts—a partnership that they created according to their own ambitions and needs.
In this dramatic and vivid narrative, set against the great upheavals of the Depression and World War II, Rowley paints a portrait of a tender lifelong companionship, born of mutual admiration and compassion. Most of all, she depicts an extraordinary evolution—from conventional Victorian marriage to the bold and radical partnership that has made Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt go down in history as one of the most inspiring and fascinating couples of all time.
Hazel Rowley, brought up in England and Australia, lives in New York City. Her new book, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: An Extraordinary Marriage, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, was named among the 2010 TEN BEST BOOKS (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air, NPR).
Rowley moved to Paris for two years to write Tête-à-Tête: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre (Harper Collins, 2005). A Washington Post Best Book for 2005, the book has been translated into thirteen languages. In Brazil it was a bestseller, and in France the prestigious literary magazine Lire named it "the best literary biography of 2006."
Rowley wrote Richard Wright: The Life and Times (Henry Holt, 2001) while she was affiliated with the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro American Studies at Harvard. The book had cover reviews in the New York Times and Washington Post and was listed among the 2001 Washington Post Book World Raves. It was re-issued by Chicago University Press in 2008.
Christina Stead: A Biography (Heinemann, 1993) won Australia's most prestigious prize, the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Published in the US by Henry Holt and in the UK by Secker & Warburg, it received glowing reviews from the likes of Doris Lessing, James Wood, and Lorna Sage (TLS),and was named as a New York Times Notable Book. It was re-issued in 2007 by Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, Australia.
Hazel Rowley has appeared four times in The Best Australian Essays. She has published articles in Partisan Review, Mississippi Quarterly, Antioch Review, Contemporary Literature, Prose Studies, Auto/Biography Studies, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Southerly and Westerly, and reviews books for The Times Literary Supplement, The London Times Higher Education Supplement, Boston Globe, Washington Post, The Nation, and L.A. Times.
A passionate speaker, she has appeared at numerous book festivals and literary events in the US, Canada, UK, France, and Australia.
