3.5 stars

This is a love story, one not like any romance I have ever read where my eyes roll at the sugary sweet dialog. Amy Bloom writes of love as if it's a part of the most beautiful birds, flowers, and sunsets found in nature. I found her descriptions just breathtaking.

This is a forbidden love between the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a female journalist known as Hick. To read the author's take on their relationship, their intimate moments, you understand it fully even though Bloom took their intimacy just to the brink, allowing the readers their imaginings.

Being a fan of Eleanor and Franklin, the book held many points of historical interest to me and the writing is superb; but something in the presentation failed to engage me 100%. The chapters count off the days following FDR's death, with mostly flashbacks to old times filling the pages. Ultimately, the women go their separate ways but remain close friends. I was glad to learn the details of this relationship, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

This book brought a fast friendship and love into my awareness and I am better off for it. If you are interested in history and love, this is the book for you. Skillfully written and carefully told, this story will sweep you off your feet.

This is a charming book, a quick read and one that made me curious about the real-life subjects of the book. It was a little jumpy at times -- moving between memories of past times and current in the narrator's voice -- but nothing that hampered my enjoyment. This book has me musing about how the PEOPLE behind the historical, iconic figures we know and admire are at the same time so much more complex and so much more real than we imagine. I really want to learn more about both Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorene Hickok. A four-star review is a LITTLE generous, but this book is RECOMMENDED. Note: A shout-out to "An American Marriage" author Tayari Jones in the author's notes.

Not really sure how I felt about this book. I didn't dislike it but I didn't really like it either. It was very well written but I can't really put my finger on why I didn't really care for it. Sorry :(

An interesting take on what Eleanor Roosevelt's relationship with Lorena Hickok might have looked like. Parts are taken from historical accounts, letters, journals etc so there is some historical fact, along with the fiction. I would have liked for these differences to be explicit- perhaps footnotes indicating there is some record of an event occurring, or that this was an actual letter, etc. the narrative goes back and forth in time, which was unnecessarily irritating to me. I found the book to drag also, perhaps it was hard to marry fact with fiction. Still an interesting story, that tends to get ignored, or glossed over and diminished. I would like to look more into this relationship with what sources are around. It is not something I would have known about without this book, so I am glad to have happened upon it.

I ventured into this book knowing only a little about the relationships Eleanor Roosevelt had with her female friends. It was a topic that intrigued me, but I did not need explicit details. I soon realized that this book was a great read, giving me just the insight I needed into the Hicks relationship. The historical fiction aspect of the book was more than satisfying. My expectation with any historical fiction title is that I will learn enough about another place and time, that I will feel like I actually was there. Amy Bloom surely delivered that to me.

A very interesting novel about the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and her long time friend, Lorena Hickok. This is a story about a great friendship that becomes a great love of many years. I enjoyed the book.

Any Bloom continues to examine the emotional depths of the characters in her novels with the breadth of her knowledge and experience as the psychotherapist she was before she came to wider attention as a writer. If it's more difficult to accomplish when the characters are real people, especially historical figures about whom one already has a prior knowledge,, rather than fully fictionalized individuals, it certainly doesn't show in this brilliantly realized story of the thirty year love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, the hardscrabble reporter who first encounters her as the wife of the governor of New York. Their tender, passionate relationship spans the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the years of Eleanor' s adulthood; even the secondary characters, from Franklin's mistresses to his political cronies and the couple's difficult children, are/were real rather than composite individuals; although their wiki entries reveal their salient details, Bloom is more compelling when she fills in history's outline.
It almost doesn't matter whether she has written the real story of their affair; it feels that way, enough to hope it truly was.

I really enjoyed this novel—based on real life—of Eleanor Roosevelt and her relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok (and told from Lerena’s POV). Amy Bloom is a great writer and did her research. It is a page-turning read. How true it is to the reality I don’t know, but it certainly gave me a wider view of the US politics of the time, Franklin Roosvelt’s weaknesses as well as his better-known strengths, as well as the humanity of Eleanor and what made her the person she was. Thank you to Netgalley and he publisher for an advance review copy.

Growing up less than an hour away from FDR's Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, I knew a lot about him but not as much about the first lady. This book was a fascinating, albeit fictionalized, look into FDR and Eleanor's lives both in the white house and out. It really made me wonder what would have been if they had lived in modern times. Our world might have wound up very different from what it is today.

This was a heartbreaking and important love story.

I’ve just finished reading this, and feel as though I’ve just emerged from the past with two extraordinary women as guides. Although it is fiction, it is based on extensive research, including over three thousand letters, so I felt confident that the relationship between these two prominent women, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, was well portrayed. Most of the major events of this time are well documented, so I allowed myself to more fully accept that what I was reading was mostly accurate, and happily immersed myself in this era, the 1930’s until the 1960’s.
Lorena Hickok, aka Hick, was a prominent journalist. At that time, being a woman in this field, especially a highly successful one, required being a very tough cookie, and Hick was definitely that, and more. Described through her eyes, this tumultuous time in history, as well as her deep love and devotion to Eleanor Roosevelt, is fascinating. Her voice is quirky and spunky, which added to my enjoyment of the book. I found myself smiling often at her clever and insightful words.
While covering the beginnings of FDR’s presidency for the Associated Press, Hick met Eleanor Roosevelt and began a friendship that grew into a lifelong love between them. This love eventually became romantic and they became inseparable, with Hick even living at the White House for a time. Because of FDR’s continuous philandering, Eleanor was lonely and heartbroken, and readily embraced this relationship. FDR’s was aware of the sexual nature of their relationship, and was content that his wife was finding a source of happiness elsewhere, while he spent time with his various mistresses. The sexuality is understated, tasteful, and very much an expression of their deep love. They remained devoted to each other for decades, until the end of Eleanor’s life.
Homosexuality being scandalous,and a serious crime at the time, great care was taken by those who knew of their secret romance to keep it secret. If this had become public knowledge, of course, the Roosevelt presidency,which lasted 12 years, would have been imperiled and many of the social protections we take for granted today might not have been enacted: Social Security, child labor laws, the forty-hour work week, Workers Compensation, disability insurance, and many others.
Hick’s description of the time they had together is searingly honest and straightforward. Words like heartfelt, bittersweet, and poignant come to mind. It is a beautifully written love story of an deep and lasting relationship between two extraordinary women.
I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy well researched historical fiction with a heart.

Note: I received a copy of the ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I bailed on this one. Just could not get connected to the characters. Also, the author portrayed Eleanor as a bit of a weenie. That is not really my opinion of her. I could not make a go of this read!

Fascinating story of Eleanor Roosevelt's relationship with Lorena Hickok. Her story is rich with pathos and with characters that come dashing off the pages of history into your heart.

Sins of the father was always in the forefront to me. Her up bringing was terrible and it just kept
on through the generations. So very sad. So many young lives could have been so much happier.

I received this book courtesy of Netgalley and its publisher, Random House.

This is a story about the life of Lorena Alice Hickock, Eleanor Roosevelt’s close friend. It is a story about her challenging childhood including abuse and neglect, education, life as a journalist, career, and love of Eleanor. Most of the book is about the relationship between Lorena and Eleanor. Lorena sat with Eleanor when Eleanor’s brother died. She even lived in the White House with the Roosevelts. Through this book, the reader gains a different perspective into the Roosevelt’s life in the White House and its residents. Actual letters are included to provide credibility to the story.

I will be surprised if it is not the next bestseller!

This book is a work of fiction but based on factual lives of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945 and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt the First Lady. What makes this book interesting and unique is the voice of the narrator - Lorena Hickok. She was an American journalist and so called "First Friend" of the First Lady. Meaning she was her lover for many years.

The book paints an interesting picture of love between two women in the time when in America homosexual relationships were forbidden by law and treated as unnatural acts. This fact is stressed in the novel when another homosexual couple *spoiler* got caught by the police and as a consequence could face jail time.

The novel starts in 1945 after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when Eleanor visits Lorena Hickok. She is sick with grief, exhausted and needs to decide how to live her life after the death of Franklin. Lorena starts to recollect her childhood in rural South Dakota, how she met Eleanor and other important life events, that shaped her. I won't reveal anything, but let me tell you that a picture of America shown in this book is among the most horrific and depressing that I've ever came across.

What makes the novel so remarkable is the fact that it is so detailed (the amount of research undertaken by the author had to be enormous!) and it doesn’t shy away from difficult themes. Poverty, rape, infidelity, hypocrisy, blackmail, discrimination, secret sexual lives of public figures hidden behind the illusion of perfect family life, it all make for interesting reading. It is an ideal book for book clubs, because there are so many controversial themes to discuss!

I recommend this novel for all historical fiction lovers, especially for those interested in the life of Eleanor Roosevelt.

I received "White Houses" from the publisher via NetGalley. I would like to thank the author and the publisher for providing me with the advance reader copy of the book.

I was interested in reading this book and it's topic of the close and quite possible lesbian relationship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. Eleanor Roosevelt is a historical figure that most people are quite familiar with, both for her relationship and marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as for all of her work to promote equality between the races. Despite knowing a fair amount about the former first lady, I had never heard of Lorena Hickok, let alone of her status as "first friend." I enjoyed that this book introduced me to this unique relationship and the speculation that the two women were more than just close friends, but that they were actually lovers. In the end I was left wanting more insight into the character of Lorena and her relationship with Eleanor. I couldn't help but feel that when I completed the book that the actual known historical facts and the conjectured premise were skimmed over and I was left wanting more story and information than what I received. What this book did for me in the end, was make me want to do more research about Hickock and the relationship between Hickok and the Roosevelt's.

One of my most anticipated releases turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments. It’s no secret I LOVE biographical fiction – historical fiction that uses real figures from history – and this one takes on Eleanor Roosevelt. Not only that, but it focuses on her relationship with Lorena Hickok. UM YES PLEASE! …I DNF’d this one at 52%. How a book about an affair a First Lady had with another woman could be so boring is beyond me.

What really sealed the deal was when Lorena decided to run away with the circus at 14. White Houses went from boring to absurd. In one scene, Lorena discovers she likes girls when a performer, Uncle/Aunt Gerry, took her into a wagon, stripped, and then asked Lorena which side she preferred (the male or female side). I had such high hopes for this one, but no. Moving on.

First Friends

Bloom’s historical fiction novel tells of the lesbian relationship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and first friend Lorena Hickok. The story timeline includes Lorena’s coverage of FDR’s presidential campaign in 1932, to the time of his death and up until the death of Eleanor herself.

This story, told in Lorena’s voice is also a story of her complicated and abusive past as well as her fight to make it on her own. Her many opportunities along the way would not have been so obviously presented in today’s world so her meeting a woman like Eleanor is remarkable in itself. Lorena’s poor upbringing sits in opposition to Eleanor’s privileged one yet makes these two women far more interesting together than they might have been apart. Eleanor, the great love of Lorena’s life, does at times seem more of a deterrent to the success she might have otherwise achieved. Eleanor’s charm and ability to attract a wide variety of people is a central theme in both Hickok’s attraction to Eleanor and her jealousy in having to share her with a larger audience. She respects Franklin but also views him as a rival for Eleanor’s time and affection.

Bloom’s meticulous research elevates this story into something that lies between fiction and non-fiction. So real does the story line come across that knowing that these are indeed real people makes one forget that this is a novel. It does lack a certain excitement however the writing is impeccable and the story comes through with a certain quiet deliberation.

BRB Rating: Read It.

Amy Bloom offers a different perspective on public life vs personal secrets in "White Houses." The fictional account of a relationship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok may take some readers by surprise.

The novel is written from the perspective of Hickok, nicknamed Hick, as she tells of her time as the secret lover and confidante of an extremely protected, yet vulnerable wife of the president. There are few explicit sex scenes, and the reader is left with a candid, while fictionalized, look into the relationship from a personal, emotional point of view.

In the modern world of no-holds-barred social media and publicity frenzy, "White Houses" steps back into time when private lives could be led and enjoyed. Kudos to the author for taking a brave and about-time look at love from a different angle.