Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley

I would probably never have bothered to read this book if it hadn’t been written by the noted Australian biographer, Hazel Rowley (1951-2011). For a start, as an Australian I am naturally more interested in reading about our political leaders than American ones, but also I’m not interested in their private lives at all because I believe it’s none of my business, nor anyone else’s.

However I was attracted to Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage when I saw it at the library because it had received considerable publicity at the time of Rowley’s premature death last year and had received generous reviews. It turned out to be well worth reading, partly because it’s so well-written but also because it traverses territory that transcends the individuals concerned.

Franklin and Eleanor is about what is nowadays called an ‘open marriage‘, that is, one in which the couple tacitly or…