The Lioness of Boston - by Emily Franklin (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A deeply evocative portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a daring visionary who created an inimitable legacy in American art and transformed the city of Boston itself. By the time Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her Italian palazzo-style home as a museum in 1903 to showcase her collection of old masters, antiques, and objects d'art, she was already well-known for scandalizing Boston's polite society. But when Isabella first arrives in Boston in 1861, she is twenty years old, newly married to a wealthy trader, and unsure of herself. Puzzled by the frosty reception she receives from stuffy bluebloods, she strives to fit in. After two devastating tragedies and rejection from upper-society, Isabella discovers her spirit and casts off expectations. Freed by travel, Isabella explores the world of art, ideas, and letters, meeting such kindred spirits as Henry James and Oscar Wilde. From London and Paris to Egypt and Asia, she develops a keen eye for paintings and objects, and meets feminists ready to transform nineteenth century thinking in the twentieth century. Isabella becomes an eccentric trailblazer, painted by John Singer Sargent in a portrait of daring dâecolletage, and fond of such stunts as walking a pair of lions in the Boston Public Garden. The Lioness of Boston is a portrait of what society expected a woman's life to be, shattered by a courageous soul who rebelled and determined to live on her own terms"--

Book Synopsis

BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER

"Brings Isabella Stewart Gardner fully, intimately alive--irrepressible and avid for life. In this richly compelling novel, Emily Franklin beautifully conjures this extraordinary woman and her world."--Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children

A deeply evocative portrayal of the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner, the daring trailblazer who not only created an inimitable legacy in American art but also transformed a city.

By the time Isabella Stewart Gardner opened her Italian palazzo-style home as a museum in 1903 to showcase her collection of old masters, antiques, and objects d'art, she was already well-known for scandalizing Boston's polite society. But when Isabella first arrived in Boston in 1861, she was twenty years old, newly married to a wealthy trader, and unsure of herself. Puzzled by the frosty reception she received from stuffy bluebloods, she strived to fit in. After two devastating tragedies and rejection from upper society, Isabella discovered her spirit and cast off expectations.

Freed by travel, Isabella explores the world of art, ideas, and letters, meeting such kindred spirits as Henry James and Oscar Wilde. From London and Paris to Egypt and Asia, she develops a keen eye for paintings and objects, and meets feminists ready to transform nineteenth century thinking in the twentieth century. Isabella becomes her own person, painted by John Singer Sargent in a portrait of daring décolletage, and fond of such stunts as walking a pair of lions in the Boston Public Garden. With a mission to make art accessible to the public, Isabella becomes the first woman to open a museum in the United States.

The Lioness of Boston is a portrait of what society expected a woman's life to be, shattered by a courageous soul who rebelled and was determined to live on her own terms.

Review Quotes

"The Lioness of Boston brings Isabella Stewart Gardner fully, intimately alive--irrepressible and avid for life. In this richly compelling novel, Emily Franklin beautifully conjures this extraordinary woman and her world."

--Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children

"Gorgeous writing enhances this absorbing portrait of a fascinating woman ahead of her time."

--Toronto Star, One of the Year's Best

"A rich, vivid, and nuanced portrait of a courageous woman pursuing a purposeful life despite the restrictive cultural expectations of her time. The details and beautiful prose highlight a complex woman making her way in a man's world and leaving Boston an artistic legacy that lives on."

--Patriot Ledger

"...the remarkable story of Isabella Stewart Gardner, capturing all the nuances of her character with grace and feeling. Highly recommended."

--Historical Novel Society

"...a rich, nuanced portrait of a woman hungry to find beauty, knowledge, and her own place in the world."

--Shelf Awareness

"Extraordinary....Vividly written in beautiful prose."

--Provincetown Magazine

"The Lioness of Boston looks at how the city's reigning society tried to ice Gardner out but failed when she found that following her own vision--and aligning herself with likeminded rulebreakers--was more important than meeting the standards of brittle Brahmins. And whose name do we all remember now?"

--Town & Country, A Must-Read Book

"The life story of Isabella Stewart Gardner, from her marriage in 1861 to Jack Gardner, a member of Boston's 'High Society, ' through her death in 1924....Franklin's lyrical, erudite style befits Belle and grabs readers' attention."

--Library Journal, starred review

"A vivid narrative...brims with pitch-perfect period details...cannily captures Isabella Stewart Gardner's ambition, independence, and quirks. Fans of strong female protagonists and Gilded Age historicals will enjoy this."

--Publishers Weekly

"The Lioness of Boston is a captivating story of a significant woman in Boston's history who left that city a cultural legacy to last the ages. This beautiful novel will appeal to those who love masterful historical fiction, literary fiction, and stories of triumphant women who leave an indelible mark."

--New York Journal of Books

"Emily Franklin takes us into the very heart and soul of Isabella Stewart Gardner in her engaging historical fiction novel....In Franklin's writing, Gardner is headstrong, sensitive, and in a sense -- given the blue-blooded circles in which she tried to live -- cursed with a curious mind and a desperate desire to make a mark on the world. Of course, we know that Gardner does eventually do so, with the opening in 1903 of an Italian palazzo-style home as a museum to showcase her impressive collection of old masters, antiques, and objets d'art. But with a novelist's freedom, Franklin builds the story of how this stunning art institution came to be by jumping off Gardner's real-life tragedies, remarkable relationships with people of note, and extensive foreign travels, which provide solace to her troubled soul."

--Martha's Vineyard Times

"Franklin's gorgeous, extraordinarily intimate and timely novel about Isabella Stewart Gardner showcases the life of a daring, brilliant woman who refused to be confined by the mores of her day, even as she searched for her truest self. So richly alive, I was running to Google to reacquaint myself with every mentioned painting, so moving, I wept over the tragedies and delighted in her bold success. How could any reader not be inspired by the cast of creatives including Oscar Wilde, Henry James, John Singer Sargent, and more? This book is just shatteringly good, with writing so artful, Isabella herself would surely approve."

--Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You

"An engaging portrait of a bold yet vulnerable woman....A perennial tale of a woman fighting for her place in a man's world."

--Kirkus

"This beautiful, sensitively written novel explores the fascinating life of Isabella Stewart Gardner--feminist before feminism, celebrity before celebrity. Captivating and evocative, The Lioness of Boston transported me to America's Golden Age. I couldn't put it down."

--Jessica Shattuck, author of The Women in the Castle

"The Lioness of Boston shows the deft touch of Edith Wharton and the delightful pomp of The Gilded Age--it's a book both elegant and entertaining, one to savor line by line even as it carries us forward on the spirit and audacity of the narrator. Emily Franklin has rendered Isabella Stewart Gardner a classic literary heroine, one who emerges from heartbreak and defiance to shape her own life and the culture of an entire city."

--Timothy Schaffert, author of The Perfume Thief

"A novel of blazing insight, The Lioness of Boston captures the daring life and mind of the unforgettable woman who transformed American art and the city of Boston itself. This masterfully written work of historical fiction will remind some of Lily King's Euphoria and others of Melanie Benjamin's The Swans of Fifth Avenue. The Lioness of Boston is the best kind of novel--at once a deft page-turner and a thrilling love story about a woman's passion for an independent life--that will sear your mind, break your heart, and leave you forever changed."

--Dawn Tripp, author of Georgia: A Novel

"The Lioness of Boston is a treasure trove of art, sensuality, Boston history, and more. Emily Franklin has captured Isabella Stewart Gardner's blazing life and the light it sheds on the lives of women then and now."

--Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink

About the Author

Emily Franklin is the bestselling author of The Lioness of Boston, based on the life of trailblazer Isabella Stewart Gardner, and more than twenty other books including a poetry collection, Tell Me How You Got Here. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, and The Journal of the American Medical Association, among many other places, as well as featured and read aloud on National Public Radio, and named notable by the Association of Jewish Libraries. Her next novel, Love & Other Monsters, will be published in April 2026.