The Five of Hearts - by Patricia O'Toole (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: New York: C. Potter, c1990.

Book Synopsis

The Five of Hearts, who first gathered in Washington in the Gilded Age, included Henry Adams, historian and scion of America's first political dynasty; his wife, Clover, gifted photographer and tragic victim of depression; John Hay, ambassador and secretary of state; his wife, Clara, a Midwestern heiress; and Clarence King, pioneering geologist, entrepreneur, and man of mystery. They knew every president from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt and befriended Henry James, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, and a host of other illustrious figures on both sides of the Atlantic.

Review Quotes

"A fine work about an interesting and important period of American history." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Absorbing . . . Offers a candid image of the Gilded Age." -- The Washington Post Book World

"Fascinating. . . A new perception of America during a period of erupting violence, as the tensions between private and political moralities became more anguished." -- The New York Times Book Review

"O'Toole is an exquisite writer. . . . This book's only fault is that it ends." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"The lesson of this book, a lesson that Adams himself drew from his own life, is that no matter how charmed your circle is, or how devoted its members are to each other, it cannot ward off life's tragedies. . . . A wonderful story." -- USA Today