Strong Passions

Condition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9781324105022 Author(s): Barbara Weisberg Format: Paperback Language: English Year: 2025 Publisher: WW Norton & Co Pages: 336

Description: What could possibly go wrong in a wealthy matriarchA?s country home when her dilettante son, his restless wife, and his widowed brother live there together? Strong Passions, rooted in the beguiling times of Edith WhartonA?s A?old New York,A? recounts the true story of a tumultuous marriage. In 1862, Mary Strong stunned her husband, Peter, by confessing to a two-year affair with his brother. Peter sued Mary for divorce for adulteryA?the only grounds in New YorkA?but not before she accused him of forcing her into an abortion and having his own affair with the abortionist. She then kidnapped their young daughter and disappeared. The divorce trial Strong v. Strong riveted the nation during the final throes and aftermath of the Civil War, offering a shocking glimpse into the private world of New YorkA?s powerful and privileged elite. Barbara Weisberg presents the chaotic courtroom and panoply of witnessesA?governess, housekeeper, private detective, sisters-in-law, and many othersA?who provided contradictory and often salacious testimony. She then asks us to be the jury, deciding each spouseA?s guilt and the possibility of a just resolution. Social history at its most intimate, Strong Passions charts a trialA?s twists and turns to portray a family and country in turmoil as they faced conflicts over womenA?s changing roles, male custody of children, and menA?s powerA?financial and otherwiseA?over wives.

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