Loving Frank

Frank and Mamah drive through Wisconsin with Lucky, the family’s new dog, in tow. Everyone in Frank’s family has land in Helena Valley. Mamah muses about how different the landscape is from Germany. She is nervous to interact with Frank’s mother and aunts given her and Frank’s affair. She and Frank see their new home in Spring Green in the distance, which Frank named “Taliesin” after Richard Hovey’s play of the same name; the name means “shining brow” (210). Mamah thinks Taliesin is beautiful in how it melds with the land. Frank points out other buildings he designed for his family members.

Frank and Mamah arrive at Taliesin, and he introduces her to the foreman, Billy Weston. The house is not yet finished, but the main layout is complete. Frank’s sister, Jennie, stops by and is kind to Mamah. The couple will stay at Jennie’s house for a few weeks, though Frank wants to spend one night at Taliesin.

In the morning, Frank and Mamah overhear some of the workers complaining about having to listen to Mamah because she’s a woman. Mamah tells Frank not to say anything. She is quickly put in charge of feeding the workers. She works with another cook, learning how to make pie crust. Slowly, the male workers begin to speak to Mamah.

Mamah keeps a low profile, and Frank rarely introduces her by name, worried about the effects on his family and their life in Spring Green. Frank goes to Chicago to finish a house for old clients, and Mamah stays with his family. Frank’s mother, Anna, rarely speaks to her, calling her “Mrs. Cheney” until Mamah makes it clear that she changed her surname back to “Borthwick.” She hoped Anna would accept her, especially since the older woman is a cofounder of the Nineteenth Century Woman’s Club. Now, she worries about Anna living with her and Frank once Taliesin is finished.

One morning, Anna gets into a fight with the cook, criticizing her for the quality of available vegetables, and the cook leaves. Anna begins cooking with Mamah, and they fall into conversation. She tells Mamah that her family came to the United States to avoid religious persecution. Mamah realizes Anna has followed Frank throughout the US, that she “made a bad bet in the one big gamble of her life” when she’d married an unreliable man (222). Frank’s father could not be depended upon for income, and eventually they divorced. Frank’s relationship with Mamah caused Anna to be humiliated once more. Mamah also learns that Frank was born in 1867, not 1869 as he had told her (as she once thought they were born mere days apart).

The chapter opens with an entry from Mamah’s journal about Frank and his contradictions and how he pushes against rules and went to a bank barefoot. She thinks he tests the love of his family and wishes for him to be more mindful of it. She goes into town and makes amends with the cook; the cook agrees to come back to work. When Mamah buys supplies for Frank, the store clerk tells her that Frank owes them money.

When Mamah meets with Frank, she emphasizes that he needs to pay his bills and that people already criticize them enough. She also confronts him about his lie regarding his birth year, and he explains that he was caught up in their relationship. She wants him to understand that he does not need to exaggerate with her.

A Chicago Examiner article appears in September of 1911 detailing Frank and Mamah’s house in Wisconsin. Frank’s monograph is finally complete. Meanwhile, publishers view Ellen’s work as controversial, but a man has reached out to Mamah claiming rights to publish Love and Ethics in the US. She decides to withdraw as much as she can from house chores in order to focus on her translations. Taliesin is coming along, and she resolves to take pictures of every element, including the workers who helped build it.

Mamah receives a letter from Ellen, asking for an update; Ellen also encourages her to return to her children if their happiness is being harmed by the affair. Mamah feels betrayed and thinks Ellen is hypocritical for advising a return to an unhappy relationship. She writes back, addressing Ellen’s questions and emphasizing her commitment to Ellen’s ideals—calling her choice to live with Frank “in harmony with [her] own soul” (237).

Mamah spends an awkward few days before Christmas with Ed and their children. Ed says he is planning to marry the following year. Meanwhile, reporters become increasingly bold in approaching Taliesin. Eventually, Mamah and Frank give a statement that Mamah is divorced and that they don’t wish to be disturbed. Later, Mamah suggests that they tell their side of the story. They organize a press conference on Christmas, and Frank reads their agreed statement—but at the end, he goes awry, claiming that society’s rules only restrict them. Afterward, Mamah tells him to get the reporters to leave, knowing his final statement will doom them in the public eye.

Frank’s relatives and reporters swarm Taliesin. Parents related to the school run by Frank’s aunts threaten to pull their children. Frank is furious, as a petition has been filed with the sheriff to have him arrested; Mamah tells him to call the lawman, who assures Frank that he has not broken the law.

Catherine continues to refuse divorce, and a newspaper column appears about Mamah’s children, which reports that only Martha believes Mamah will return to the family. Even Lizzie criticizes Mamah’s actions as “misguided,” though Mamah questions if her words were reported accurately (254). Mamah concludes that the best thing to do for her children is stay away from them.

Frank’s sorrow is worse than anything Mamah has seen from him. His children seem to hate him, and many clients leave him over the scandal; Mamah regrets their statement. Taliesin begins to feel like a fortress, and Mamah wonders if this was purposeful. She encourages Frank to write about his interest in Japanese prints now that he has the time to do so.

Mamah translates another of Ellen’s essays, in which she prioritizes motherhood and argues that suffragists shouldn’t focus on jobs and equal pay; society should take the role of “mother” more seriously. Mamah remembers being told by a friend in Berlin that Ellen gave a similar speech in 1896, which set the women’s movement in Germany back 10 years. She worries that translating the essay will have the same effect, so she sets it aside.

Mamah and Frank plan out the planting for the 31 acres of Taliesin. At first, they clash, but Frank ultimately allows Mamah some creative control. When the plants arrive, she picks up two boys who live nearby to help dig holes for the planting, surprised by the kindness of their mother—whose allusion to Martha makes it clear that she read about Mamah. However, not all the plants survive.

In 1913, Mamah reunites with Taylor Woolley, Frank’s assistant who stayed with them in Italy. She and Frank have recently returned from Japan. She shows Taylor some of Frank’s Japanese prints and discloses that Frank has not produced much architectural work. Taylor asks about the press, as he has not read much. Mamah and Frank have settled in, and people have begun to talk to Mamah; her children spent part of the previous summer at Taliesin as well.

Mamah has not spent much time translating, having confronted the man who claimed Ellen gave him permission to work on one of her books: When he showed her a check from Ellen, Mamah knew she had been lied to by Ellen. She and Frank continued on to Japan, and she resolved to put Ellen out of her mind for the moment. There, Frank worked for a company that bought rare Japanese prints. Mamah misses her children and worries about what will happen if Frank gets a contract to build a hotel in Japan.

Taylor and another draftsman visit, and Mamah watches as they admire Frank. While discussing old employees, Mamah does not appreciate that Frank calls a woman an illustrator rather than an architect, especially since she worked for him for so long. Mamah corrects him, but he ignores her. She feels like he’s put distance between them, but she dismisses the thought.

Mamah goes to the countryside to look at the flowers and thinks of Mattie. She’d written to Ed to ask after the children, but she hears from Mattie’s brother that Ed and his new wife are raising them in Iowa. Later, Mamah returns to Taliesin to find a delivery of furniture, already paid for by Frank. She wonders how he was able to pay for the furniture and movers; Frank still hasn’t paid the man who built the bookshelves in her study over a year ago. Mamah realizes she doesn’t trust him. She goes over their expenses in her head and finally goes through Frank’s correspondence and finds bills—and is shocked by his debt.

When Frank returns from Chicago, Mamah berates him, demanding that he return the furniture and pay his debts. She believes Catherine won’t divorce him to ensure he pays for child support and is upset that he’s taken advantage of kind people. She tells him to sleep at his sister’s. In the morning, Frank explains that he paid off a debt and then paid for the new furniture with money from selling prints. He promises to change, but Mamah doesn’t believe him and goes to the train station.