Overview

"What could possibly go wrong in a wealthy matriarch's country home when her dilettante son, his restless wife, and his widowed brother live there together? Strong Passions, rooted in the beguiling times of Edith Wharton's ""old New York,"" recounts the true story of a tumultuous marriage. In 1862, Mary Strong stunned her husband, Peter, by confessing to a two-year affair with his brother. Peter sued Mary for divorce for adultery--the only grounds in New York--but not before she accused him of forcing her into an abortion and having his own affair with the abortionist. She then kidnapped their young daughter and disappeared. The divorce trial Strong v. Strong riveted the nation during the final throes and aftermath of the Civil War, offering a shocking glimpse into the private world of New York's powerful and privileged elite. Barbara Weisberg presents the chaotic courtroom and panoply of witnesses who provided contradictory and often salacious testimony. She then asks us to be the jury, deciding each spouse's guilt and the possibility of a just resolution. Social history at its most intimate, Strong Passions charts a trial's twists and turns to portray a family and country in turmoil as they faced conflicts over women's changing roles, male custody of children, and men's power--financial and otherwise--over wives."

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Reviews

"""[A] captivating chronicle of a high-society scandal...[and] a suspenseful courtroom drama--related through witness testimony from servants, family members, and a 'ladies' physician, ' among others."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" ""[A] case from the 1860s that has all the elements of a soap opera...Ms. Weisberg has done her best to link the story of the Strong divorce to the larger realities of private lives during these years...Strong Passions gives us insights into a snobbish society."" -- ""Wall Street Journal"" ""[A] riveting reconstruction of a scandal...In Strong Passions, by letting public and private records reanimate this vivid chapter of the past, Weisberg tells a story that fiction could not touch."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"""

Author Information

Barbara Weisberg is a former television producer and the author of Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism. Elisabeth Ashby is a seasoned character actor and singer with over two decades of stage experience. Having loved audiobooks since she was a little girl checking cassettes out from the local library, she is thrilled to have found a way to combine her love of performing with her lifelong passion for the written word as a narrator. Originally from Upstate New York, she now lives in Central Virginia with her husband and two cats.

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