Shocking revelations of a wife’s adultery explode in an incendiary nineteenth-century trial, exposing upper-crust New York society and its secrets.

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 Twain’s Gilded Age, 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―governess, housekeeper, private detective, sisters-in-law, and many others―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.

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About the Author:

Barbara Weisberg is the author of Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism. She earned her M.Phil. in American Studies at Yale University and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Brooklyn College, where she was awarded the MacArthur Scholarship in Poetry on the nomination of Allen Ginsberg. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America, Biographers International, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Authors Guild.

About the Moderator:

Bill Shaffer is the author of The Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grifter, a Founding Father’s Disgraced Descendant and a Trial at the Dawn of Tabloid Journalism and Baranger Motion Displays: 55 Moving Scenes of Love, Courtship and Surrender. Shaffer has also been published on designobserver.com and Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum online. He holds an M.A., History of Design and Curatorial Studies from Parsons, The New School. _____________________________________________________________

Author programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are sponsored by Connecticut Public Broadcasting and the Wish You Well Foundation.