Mount Vernon Love Story [Hardcover]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: Mount Vernon Ladies Association; First Printing edition (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931917409
• ISBN-13: 978-0931917400
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,826,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If I were to define myself in one sentence, I would say, "I'm a nice Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx."

I was a Christmas Eve baby all those years ago, the second of the three children of Nora and Luke Higgins. Mother was pushing forty when they married and my father was forty-two. My older brother was named Joseph. Nineteen months later I, Mary, was born. Three and a half years later, my little brother, John, came along.

We lived in a very nice section of the Bronx on a street off Pelham Parkway. I loved our house. I still love it. After my father died, when I was eleven, my mother had to sell it.

I went to Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School. Two years ago I went back and was Principal for a Day. Escorted by two of the tiniest children, I was led into the auditorium while the whole student body sang "Hello Mary. You're back where you belong." I still tear up thinking about it.

I was awarded a scholarship to Villa Maria Academy which is in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, otherwise I couldn't have afforded to set foot in it.

I went to Woods Secretarial School and at eighteen had my first full-time job as Secretary to the creative director of Remington Rand's in-house advertising agency. If I were making that choice now I would have gone to college even though God knows we needed the income. On the other hand the three years I spent in Remington Rand was a tutorial in advertising which served me well when I was widowed with five small children. Another plus was that I left Remington to be a flight stewardess with Pan American Airways and when my contemporaries were seniors in college, I was flying to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Warren Clark and I were married on December 26, 1949 and had five children in the next eight years; Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Warren died of a heart attack in 1964. The highest compliment I can pay my kids are that they are like him.

I sold my first short story when I was twenty-eight. It was alled 'Stowaway'. It had been rejected forty times before a magazine in Chicago bought it for one hundred dollars.

My first book was about George Washington. It was published in 1969 and disappeared without a trace. Three years ago Simon and Schuster co-published it with the Mount Vernon Historical Society and retitled 'Mount Vernon Love Story', it became a bestseller.

My first suspense novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought in 1974 for three thousand dollars by Simon and Schuster. Thirty-three books later, I'm still with S&S.

Time to wind up - at least for the present. As soon as I sold 'Children' I enrolled in Fordham College. Went there for five years at night and earned a B.A. in Philosophy. Summa cum laude, if you please.

I never thought I'd marry again but ten years ago I threw a cocktail party on St. Patrick's day. My daughter, Pat, urged me to invite John Conheeney. Her opening words about him were, "Have I got a hunk for you!" He came to the party and we were married eight months later.

I'm Honorary Chairman of FraXa Research. My grandson, David, has the Fragile X syndrome, which is the second leading cause of retardation after Downs Syndrome. Basically the brain of the people who have it can't send out the proper signals because there's a kind of short circuit in the synapses that carry the signals. We raise money for research with the goal of finding a medication that will work around that short circuit. I go all over the country to the fund-raisers as new chapters of FraXa are opened.

I'm always asked to name my favorite book. They're ALL my favorites. If there is one book that is very special to me, it is my memoir 'Kitchen Privileges' because writing it made me relive my early life including those first struggles to become a writer. I think 'Kitchen Privileges' is both tender and funny and it's me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting biography, June 20, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mount Vernon Love Story: A Novel of George and Martha Washington (Hardcover)

George Washington's father died when the future president was young. His mother was a harsh disciplinarian insuring George and his siblings behaved. George seemed to flee her whenever he could get away spending time at his half-brother's Mount Vernon home (yes - that historical home). George's first love is Sally Fairfax and his chosen profession surveyor, but war seemed to be his destiny. First he fought (unsuccessfully) during the French and Indian War and then the American Revolution.

This biography uses Washington's retirement to Mount Vernon with his beloved Patsy (Martha's nickname) as a focal point for looking back over the lives of the first president and his spouse. The book concentrates on his personal life not his public life. Thus, readers see another side to Washington. Though opinions are interspersed throughout, mystery suspense thriller writer Mary Higgins Clark provides a strong insightful look at Washington and literally the first "First Lady" that historical readers will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming Historical Fiction-Ms. Clark a Master of ALL Genres, August 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mount Vernon Love Story: A Novel of George and Martha Washington (Hardcover)

I've always enjoyed Mary Higgins Clark's mysteries and this historical love story has proven to me that Ms. Clark is more than a great mistress of suspense - she is quite capable of entertaining in other genres as well!

This charming historical novel was actually the author's first novel, originally published in 1968 under the title "Aspire to the Heavens". It was re-released in 2002 and I can't think of a more appropriate time to do so!

With the tragic attacks on our nation on September 11, 2001, it is wonderful to read this highly-readable, well-researched novel about George Washington - the man who helped to give us the freedoms we so enjoy today! As Washington passes the presidential torch onto John Adams and returns to his beloved Mount Vernon, both he and his wife Martha (aka Patsy)flashback to their younger years. We're so used to stodgy accounts of Washington's military victories and political accomplishments that it was a pleasure to read a well-crafted story about Washington as a man and a husband.

This is a short novel and a fast-read so it's a great beach or airplane book. I would love to see it made into a television movie, perhaps to be aired on George Washington's birthday!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Washington Goes to Mount Vernon, June 22, 2004

By 

Eric A. Klee "eak321" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mount Vernon Love Story : A Novel of George and Martha Washington (Mass Market Paperback)

Having recently visited Mount Vernon on vacation, I was very interested to read "Mount Vernon Love Story" by Mary Higgins Clark since I assumed it would lead into further insight of the relationship between George and Martha ("Patsy") Washington. Not only did it delve deeper into their relationship than was learned on the visit to their home, but it also provided a deeper insight into the history of the United States.

The book's chapters alternate between the beginning of George and Martha's relationship and the end of his presidency. It's a very clever way of storytelling, and each chapter leads into the next with grace, bouncing between time.

I must admit that this is the first book I've ever read by Mary Higgins Clark, so I am not familiar with her writing style. And I am sure that this book of history is quite different from her mystery books. It is her first book, however, and it shows.

The love story in the title is more the love of Mount Vernon -- the home, the grounds, the idea of it, etc. -- than the love story between George and Martha Washington. It's about the growth of Mount Vernon and the love its owners and visitors had for it. And why they couldn't stop being excited returning to it day after day.

Although I wasn't that drawn into the book and the romance between George and Martha, it was intriguing to learn some details about the Washingtons' lives. I especially enjoyed the chapter involving George introducing Martha to his domineering mother for the first time. Here, I felt drawn into the characters and loved the interaction between them. George tries to keep his temper in place over his mother's criticisms while Martha calms him down with her gentle touch. Unfortunately, this type of character development did not seem to continue through the rest of the book.

It was definitely an enjoyable read, but I guess I was hoping for something more.