Henry and Clara

the long version

Blending fact with fiction, as he did so successfully in Aurora 7, Thomas Mallon here vividly recreates the tragic story of Henry and Clara Rathbone, the young couple who sat in the President's box on the night of Lincoln's assassination. Born of socially prominent families and raised as stepbrother and stepsister, Henry and Clara began a passionate love affair that thrived against the wishes of their parents and society around them. Henry had fought with distinction from Antietam to Petersburg, while Clara attracted the favor of President and Mrs. Lincoln. But their witnessing of the event that shook the entire nation changed their lives forever, leading to guilt, madness, and eventually murder. Relying on historical evidence, Thomas Mallon brings to life one of the most fascinating though little known tales from our nation's history. His talent as a novelist is fully in evidence in this astonishing and moving story.