This review rings true.
Variations on a bio of Twain makes pretty good music?
In my heart, I feel Mr. Clemens would welcome a well-written batch of lies
as long as we know it is fiction, and is more like lightning than a lightning bug.

"Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? " 
You know the second line.



> Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 08:02:53 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: BOOK REVIEW: _Twain's End_, by Lynn Cullen
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> The following review was written for the Mark Twain Forum by Kevin Mac
> Donnell:
> ~~~~~
> 
> _Twain's End_. By Lynn Cullen. Gallery Books, 2015. Pp. 342. Hardback.
> $26.00. ISBN 978-1-4767-5896-1 (hardback). ISBN 978-1-4767-5898-5 (ebook).
> 
> 
> Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from
> the TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions
> that benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.net>.
> 
> 
> Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by:
> Kevin Mac Donnell
> 
> 
> Copyright (c) 2015 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or
> redistributed in any medium without permission.
> 
> 
> Another Twain't this way comes, and a familiar feeling of dread descends.
> Twain'ts can be pastiches, or they can be historical fiction, or they can
> simply borrow Mark Twain's characters or plots (and even Twain himself) to
> go about their business of being something akin to--but not
> actually--Twain. When they are good they can be very very good--Jon
> Clinch's Finn (2007) comes to mind--but when they are bad they can be
> dreadful.
> 
> 
> _Twain's End_ is a historical novel centered on the tortured relationships
> between Mark Twain, Isabel Lyon, Clara Clemens, Jean Clemens, Katy Leary,
> Ralph Ashcroft, and others during the last years of Twain's life. That
> story was first told by Twain himself (who was not sympathetic to Lyon in
> 1909), ignored by Albert Bigelow Paine (in 1912 and 1935), but told again
> by Hamlin Hill (who was sympathetic to Lyon in 1973), Karen Lystra (who was
> not so sympathetic to Lyon in 2004), Laura Trombley (who was sympathetic to
> Lyon in 2010), and Michael Shelden (who marshalled enough evidence to erase
> any sympathies for Lyon or Ashcroft in 2010). It has proven to be one of
> the most controversial episodes in Mark Twain's biography, and Twainians
> take sides, and become passionate. Was Lyon a thief who kept Jean away from
> her father in order to seduce her employer? Was she a devoted innocent
> secretary who was treated unfairly by Twain? Did Lyon and/or Ashcroft
> conspire together to manipulate Twain in an attempt to take over his
> estate? Did Clara have an affair with Will Wark, her accompanist? Did Twain
> and Lyon have an affair? Who drank, what did they drink, and when did they
> drink it? That feeling of dread just keeps descending.
> 
> 
> Lynn Cullen is a successful writer of historical fiction about women
> associated with more famous historical figures, with several very good
> books to her credit, including a novel about a female student of
> Michelangelo, a story about the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen
> Isabella, and a novel about Poe and two of his women. Historical fiction
> does not have to stick to facts, but to achieve a sense of authenticity it
> can't ignore them either. With so many of the facts in this story in
> dispute or unproven, a novel like this one could easily flounder. Cullen
> enumerates the sources she read in preparation for this novel. She reviewed
> much of the literature on this episode of Twain's life, but she makes no
> mention of Hill's book nor Shelden's biography, and a reviewer of one of
> her previous books called it "swoon-worthy." I don't swoon easily, but I
> can't shake that feeling of dread. The darkness is visible.
> 
> 
> There was no need to worry. Readers will quickly sense they are in the
> capable hands of a seasoned writer telling a tale populated with characters
> who are well-motivated to do exactly what they do--whether or not all of
> the action jibes with known historical facts--and whether or not the reader
> agrees with Cullen's reimagining of events. That does not mean there are no
> moments when the romance edges into swoonish territory, or some facts beg
> for minor adjustment, but the story stands on its own and the characters
> ring true. Among the distortions of facts that beg correction are Helen
> Keller arriving at Stormfield by sleigh (she arrived by carriage), Twain
> being given opium (he was given morphine), angelfish pins being made by
> Tiffany (they were made in Norway), or Lyon not liking Twain's whiskey
> (this did not keep her from drinking it in truly startling quantities; even
> late in life she could still drink her visitors under the table). Cullen
> also imagines Livy being aware of Lyon's designs on her husband in 1904
> (there is no evidence of this), a Twain whose skirt-chasing drove away
> servants (there is no evidence of this either), that Twain's first choice
> of a name for Stormfield was "Twain's End" (it was "Innocence at Home"),
> that Jane Clemens sold her husband's body to a medical college (the family
> doctor did perform an autopsy), that Livy had memories of Hawaii (she never
> set foot there), or that Halley's Comet streaked across the sky (comets do
> not streak like shooting stars or rowdy British soccer fans). But even when
> stacked up, these are trivial and immaterial to the main action of the
> story.
> 
> 
> It is Cullen's skill at utilizing historical details and her talent for
> setting up convincing scenes that drives her narrative and snares her
> readers. The fictionalized dialogue during a card game in chapter four is
> clever, authentic, and entertaining, and the dramatic unfolding of events
> on the night Stormfield was visited by burglars is so good it pains me not
> to spill the beans, but I'm no spoiler. Cullen also provides interesting
> twists on the story about Jean attacking Katy Leary and the sleighing
> accident involving Clara and Ossip, and she even pays fitting homage to an
> image from _The Great Gatsby_. She also includes verbatim extracts from
> original newspaper accounts and Twain's Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript of 1909
> (which appears in full in the third volume of _Autobiography of Mark
> Twain_, just published), borrows phrases from Twain's letters
> ("author-cat"), inserts some modern jargon just for fun ("irrational
> exuberance" and "curb your enthusiasm"), and even sneaks in some literary
> allusions for good measure. Her reference to the dancing of the can-can
> (_The Innocents Abroad_) is accurate, as is Twain's complaint about heaven
> being devoid of sex. Other details are also historically accurate, like
> Twain reading _Eve's Diary_ to Helen Keller, the unfinished fountain under
> the pergola at Stormfield, the trip to Halifax by Clara and Lyon, the
> mention of a book from Mark Twain's library, and Lyon's abrupt eviction
> from the Lobster Pot.
> 
> 
> By now, some Twainians may be wondering about the plot and exactly what
> action takes place in this story. More examples of Cullen's use of
> historical facts and her fanciful reimaginings of them could be mentioned,
> but some are central to the plot and can't be discussed without revealing
> the outcome. All I can say is that those questions posed earlier do get
> answered, and whether the reader agrees with Cullen's conclusions--and I
> don't--this Twain't is a provocative and entertaining read. Dread be gone!