Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain's Final Years

For the best, most balanced, and most knowledgeable review of this book, see Barbara Schmidt's detailed critique that appeared on June 16, 2004 in the Mark Twain Forum, an online resource dedicated to Mark Twain studies. Schmidt gives Lystra full credit for opening new light on a controversial relationship in Twain's last years but faults her for not examining certain documents crucial to her accusations of Lyon's and Ashcroft's perfidy.

Having recently completed Fred Kaplan's "The Singular Mark Twain" and Ron Powers' far better recent biography "Mark Twain: A Life," which each refer to this book, I was delighted to receive a copy for Christmas. As Karen Lystra points out, virtually every biography of Samuel Clemens describes his final years as unremittingly bitter, while the truth is not quite so one-sided. More importantly, unlike biographers who characterize Clemens' eventual attacks on Isabel Lyon, his secretary during most of his final years, and her helpmate and eventual husband, Ralph Ashcroft, as hyperbolic fantasies, Lystra takes Clemens at his word. She details how Lyon and Ashcroft insinuated themselves into Clemens' world, preying on his loneliness and enormous ego to give themselves power and legal authority over his affairs. Most powerful of all, Lystra focuses as no one else ever has on Clemens' youngest daughter, Jean, including both the heartbreaking story of the prejudice she faced because of her epilepsy, as well as how her father abandoned her. Although that separation was urged on Clemens by Lyon, who even went so far as to intercept letters Jean wrote to her father begging for his attention and visits, Clemens himself acknowledged some years later, when he fired Lyon and Ashcroft and brought Jean back into his life, that he himself was unforgivably to blame. All of this is told is a way that gives new insights into Clemens and the considerable imperfections that accompanied his unparalleled talent and fame as an American author. My only complaint -- making this a four- rather than five-star review -- is that Lystra is a pedestrian writer. The book truly comes alive only when she quotes the primary source material -- the diaries of Jean and Clara Clemens, the letters of friends and family, and of course Twain's own autobiographical writings. But she finds wondrous excerpts from all of these to quote, and for that, her thesis, and shining a light on Clemens's failings, this book is a must for anyone who wants to know more about Mark Twain.

This is a fascinating, well written and painstakingly researched book. Finally, a book on our friend Mark Twain that tackles new terrain. It reads like an exciting, suspenseful mystery. Lystra sifts through all the evidence surrounding Twain's last years and his tangled relations with his secretary, Isabel Lyon and his daughters, Clara and Jean. It is sad to read about Twain, thewidower, hungry for love and a real home, succumbing to the flattery and duplicity of his unscrupulous secretary. She schemed to marry him and seperate him from his daughters. She almost succeeded. Plainly, he never would have married her. His unwavering love for his late wife stopped that folly. But she did manage to build a wedge between him and his daughters. Twain was manipulated and lied to and encouraged to give in to his worst weaknesses. This led to his sad betrayal of his epileptic daughter, Jean. It is interesting to compare his wife Olivia with Isabel Lyon. His wife had a powerful strength that belied her often frail health. It is obvious that she brought out many of his best qualities. She was a true helpmate and companion to him. She expected him to live up to his moral and familial responsibilites. She kept him centered and clear thinking - no easy task! Without her as his emotional and moral anchor - he gave in to human weakness and selfishness. Yet, it is inspiring and uplifting to witness him looking deep within himself and unflinchingly recognizing his character faults and their terrible consequences. It is a truly courageous act. He makes amends to his daughter , who he really does love and who loves him. Father and daughter experience happiness during their final days together. You come away from their story with admiration for both of them.