Today I got a mailing from the Becky Thatcher Book Shop which some
of you might also have received: a pamphlet describing a new
publication by Resa Willis, _Mark and Livy: The Love Story of MT
and the Woman Who Almost Tamed Him_ (Atheneum ISBN 0-689-12154-7).
As it is sure to interest Forum subscribers, here is what some of
the pamphlet says:

     Resa Willis has written the first full-length biography of
     Livy.  A writer, Twain scholar and Professor of Literature at
     Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, Ms. Willis has written
     and lectured extensively on MT, Livy, and their artistic and
     personal relationship....

     This research has taken her to the MT project at the
     University of California at Berkeley; the family's home and MT
     Memorial in Hartford, Connecticut; the Langdon family
     home...in Elmira, New York; Twain's boyhood home at Hannibal,
     Missouri; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Europe; and the sites of
     other Twain archives.

     She has read Livy's diaries, journals and correspondence with
     Twain--Livy would write him as often as five times a day when
     they were apart--and other members of her family and friends;
     and even pored over school records at the finishing school
     Livy attended.

The author says:

     My book and my lectures focus on the pattern of Mark and
     Livy's life together: what really happened...and the way MT
     chose to remember it.  The two are not always the same.
     Remember, this is the man who said, "Never let the facts get
     in the way of a good story."

The Becky Thatcher Book Shop quoted me a price of $28.00 (postage
paid to Canada, so it may be cheaper in the U.S.).  If you want
more info on the book, you should contact the publisher (Atheneum)
or Becky Thatcher.

The author, Willis, also has a slide presentation, "MT at Home,"
and a lecture about Livy, "To Live with Her in a Most Real Way."
It would be good to hear from anyone familiar with either the
lectures or the book.

Regards,
Taylor Roberts