Henry and Clara

by Thomas Mallon

Book Overview

On the evening of Good Friday, 1865, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris joined the Lincolns in the Presidential box at Ford's Theater, becoming eyewitnesses to one of the great tragedies of American... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312135084
• ISBN13: 9780312135089
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

John Wilkes Booth's Other Victims

On April 14, 1865, an engaged couple, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris, accepted the Lincolns' last-minute invitation to join them in their box at Ford's Theatre. For the nation, the impact of that night's tragedy would be felt at once; for Henry and Clara, the denouement of their own private tragedy occurred years later. "Henry and Clara" follows the titular couple from their childhood in Albany, New York, where Henry's widowed, ambitious mother sets her cap at Clara's widowed father, Ira Harris, whom Pauline Rathbone sees as a promising politician. A marriage soon follows, and young Henry and Clara find themselves stepbrother and stepsister. Though neither child cares much for the other's parent, Henry and Clara soon gravitate toward each other, and as they mature their feelings grow into romantic love. Before they can marry, though, they must overcome the opposition of their parents, and the outbreak of the Civil War throws yet another obstacle into their path. There is another difficulty, one the determined and devoted Clara doesn't much want to acknowledge: Henry. For Clara, the mercurial Henry is Byronic, but the horrors of war soon disclose how fragile Henry's psyche truly is. Nonetheless, Clara, deeply in love and not willing to give up easily, presses on with her marriage plans, even after the Lincoln assassination strips yet another layer of sanity from Henry. Though the story "Henry and Clara" tells is a tragic one, Mallon's wry narrative voice and his sharp eye prevent it from being a gloomy one. His characterizations are superb, with Clara, the main viewpoint character, being a particular success. Even as Clara becomes more isolated and her situation more grim, she never turns into the pathetic victim she might have become with a less skilled author. If there's a rough patch in the novel, it's at the beginning, where the immersion into Albany politics may be too much for some readers. Persevere, though, and you'll be well rewarded. This was one of the best historical novels I've read.

Innocent Bystanders

Last year I visited Washington DC for the first time. I walked for hours and hours. And I was charmed, as I never expected that I would be. Soon thereafter, I read Henry & Clara - a novelization of real people and events. Henry and Clara Rathbone - two people who grew up together in the pre-civil war era. Henry went to war; was damaged by war. Clara fell in love - with Henry, with politics, with Washington. What would their story have been like without the war? By the time they came together in marriage, their interests and goals in life had diverged. Clara's interests drove them to Washington where she befriended the troubled Mary Todd Lincoln. Most beguiling are the descriptions of Washington as a small southern town. Clara crossing the square in front of her house to the White House across the street; meeting up with Robert Lincoln in the park. The carriage rides and salons. In that time, the President and family lived in and were part of a neighborhood . Look at any picture of a momentous event, of famous people. Who are the people in the background? The other people who were there? A hundred years from now, looking at a picture of the motorcade in Dallas, will we know that was Nellie Connelly in the car with the Kennedys? Henry and Clara were at the theater, in the box with the Lincolns that night when John Wilkes Booth struck. What happens to people who experience such trauma? People who, in memory, replay in slow motion the events of the evening until their lives resound with could have beens, would have beens, if onlys, maybes and guilty wishes coming true. Did I wish it? Did I want it? Could I have done something? Should I have done something? Did I even want to do something? It is a book about loss as much as anything else. Mrs. Lincoln lost her husband. The nation lost its innocence. Henry lost his way and finally lost his mind. Clara lost her dreams and finally lost her life. And what was the real trigger? The war? The assassination? Conflicting goals in the marriage? The sweep of events that was too momentous to survive? Who and what died in the theater box that night? I think it was more than just Lincoln

Riveting look at a forgotten episode of history.

This is simply one of the best books I have ever read, and I've been recommending it to people ever since I first read it. I've even been known to grab people in bookstores and convince them to buy it.These are not 20th century people dressed in funny clothes. They are real, live, breathing 19th century people come to life. I think too many of us have read too many bad historical novels or seen too many Hollywood films to recognize the aura of truth when it appears.The simple facts of Henry and Clara Rathbone's lives are interesting enough. Raised together as stepbrother and stepsister after his mother married her father, they fell in love, and had to battle social conventions to marry. They had the supreme ill fortune to be with President and Mrs Lincoln on that terrible night when the President was assassinated, and forever after Henry Rathbone was blamed for not preventing the murder.. His descent into madness and its terrible effect on Clara and their marriage is well presented.In the end, what eventually happened to them is revealed. I found myself reading the last thirty or so pages with my mouth open in astonishment. I'd never heard of these two, and yet they were a footnote to history we should all know about.Thomas Mallon is the rare writer who can bring an era to life. He puts us inside the minds and souls of the people who lived long ago. They are like us, and yet not like us. They grew up and came of age in a completely different world, and he shows us both their similarities and differences to us, to our time.

Highly informative & entertaining historical fiction

This is a great read for anyone interested in good literature, or history, especially for those who are civil war buffs. It is a wonderful period novel, giving the reader a good sense of the culture and society of the era. The characters are well developed and absorbing, paritcularly the intracicies and psychological complexities of Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris (guests of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln at Ford's Theater on that fateful night.) I found the subject highly intriguing and fascinating, the examination of the impact of Lincoln's assination on Henry and Clara as individuals and as a couple. There are many historical facts in this novel, and it is fun to sort out fact from fantasy. The novel is a complete offering, providing a great narrative, depth, social and psychological study, and suspense as well. I found it very difficult to put this book down.

Wonderful Writer

A beautifully written historical novel with an expertly realized sense of time and place. The characters are finely drawn and richly depicted, truly unforgettable. Mallon is one of the finest American writers and this is one of his most memorable and engrossing novels.