So if you adore Mark Twain, I can't say that I'd recommend this book. It's certainly a glimpse at the man behind the curtain, as it were. Samuel Clemens seems to almost have multiple personality disorder. Sam is caring, uncertain, gentlemanly, private. Mark is egotistical, gregarious, often tactless. Watching the tug of war between the warring sides of his personality is truly fascinating. (Clearly, I use the word "fascinating" too much since I need to clarify with "truly." But seriously, intriguing stuff.)

Twain's secretary (and eventual mistress) Isabel Lyon is someone I've never heard of, which is odd considering I've visited the excellent museum of the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. She was his secretary for 7 years, and apparently his lover for a fraction of that time. (Cullen's research included Lyon's actual diaries, so presumably she didn't just make up this relationship.) Despite the publisher's blurbs, this book isn't about the aftermath of Isabel's marriage to Twain's business manager but about the 7 years preceding it. It is an excellent character study of both Clemens/Twain and Lyon, as well as Twain's children (particularly Clara) and various other satellites to his life. It's almost enough to make me want to commit to the thousands of pages of his autobiography, large parts of which he dictated to Lyon.

By focusing on this last chapter of Twain's life, Cullen successfully illustrates how his novels weren't the only fiction he invented. It's almost as if he forgot the truth himself at times. Clearly, it's difficult to describe, but I would highly recommend this book to fans of literary history who aren't afraid to see some tarnish on the gilded image of the illustrious Mark Twain.

The fine print: received ARC from NetGalley.