Patricia O'Brien ~ Harriet and Isabella

Patricia O'Brien is an award-winning journalist, novelist and author of at least seven books.

O'Brien began her career as a journalist in 1966 at The South Bend Tribune. She went on to the Chicago Sun Times as a reporter, editorial writer, and columnist. In 1973 she became a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard.

Her books include the non-fiction works, The Woman Alone, Staying Together and I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives (written with friend and co-author columnist Ellen Goodman). Her novels include The Candidate's Wife, The Ladies' Lunch, Good Intentions, The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton (2004) and Harriet and Isabella (2008).

She lives in Washington, D.C. is married to journalist Frank Mankiewicz. They have four grown daughters.

It is 1887, and Henry Ward Beecher lies dying.

Reporters from around the world, eager for one last story about the most lurid scandal of their time, descend on Brooklyn Heights, their presence signaling the beginning of the voracious appetite for fallen celebrities we know so well today.

When Henry Ward Beecher was put on trial for adultery in 1875, the question of his guilt or innocence was ferociously debated. His trial not only split the country, it split apart his family, causing a particularly bitter rift between his sisters, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Isabella Beecher Hooker, an ardent suffragist. Harriet remained loyal to Henry, while Isabella called publicly for him to admit his guilt. What had been a loving, close relationship between two sisters plummeted into bitter blame and hurt.

Harriet and Isabella each had a major role in the social revolutions unfolding around them, but what happened in their hearts when they were forced to face a question of justice much closer to home? Now they struggle: Who best served Henry, the one who was steadfast or the one who demanded honesty?

In Harriet and Isabella, with richly evocative writing, novelist Patricia O'Brien imagines this painful family struggle, returning to an age of unrest, slavery, and the Civil War to bring to life this vivid tale of a celebrated American family.

Patricia O’Brien tells the story of Henry Ward Beecher's adultery trial in 1875. Not just any defendant—but America’s celebrated and most famous preacher …

It’s the taut and tension-filled portrait of a close-knit family torn apart by the accusations of adultery in the age of abolitionism.

A moving, enlightening, provocative and entertaining read. This is certainly top-notch historical fiction.