Fic­tion

The Lioness of Boston

Emi­ly Franklin
September 1, 2021

The Lioness of Boston is a his­toric nov­el about the life of dar­ing vision­ary Isabel­la Stew­art Gard­ner, who cre­at­ed an inim­itable lega­cy in Amer­i­can art and trans­formed the city of Boston itself. By the time Isabel­la Stew­art Gard­ner opened her 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, new­ly mar­ried and unsure of her­self, she was puz­zled by the frosty recep­tion she received from stuffy blue­bloods. At first, she strived to fit in. Fol­low­ing tragedy and upper-soci­ety rejec­tion, Isabel­la dis­cov­ered her own out­spo­ken nature, infil­trat­ing the Har­vard world, and embrac­ing friends with those soci­ety defined as ​“oth­er.” Isabel­la explores the art world, meet­ing Impres­sion­ist artists and kin­dred spir­its Hen­ry James, Oscar Wilde, and John Singer Sar­gent. A world­wide trav­el­er, she col­lects paint­ings and objects, forg­ing an impor­tant rela­tion­ship with Jew­ish immigrant/​Harvard stu­dent Bernard Beren­son, her art dealer/​confidante. An eccen­tric trail­blaz­er, Isabel­la was a mis­fit who befriend­ed oth­er out­casts only to rise into art and intel­lec­tu­al soci­ety, open­ing her own muse­um. The Lioness of Boston is a por­trait of a coura­geous soul, liv­ing life on her own terms, who shat­tered soci­ety’s expectations.

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Discussion Questions

Cour­tesy of Emi­ly Franklin

1. Isabel­la is reject­ed ear­ly in her Boston life. How does this rejec­tion influ­ence her char­ac­ter? Are there ways this rejec­tion helps her?

2. What draws Isabel­la to Jack? What traits does she have that he finds com­pelling do you think? How does their mar­riage change dur­ing the course of the book?

3. What is Isabel­la look­ing for in a friend? Do you think she finds it? How would you describe her cir­cle of friends by the end of the novel?

4. How does the tragedy Isabel­la expe­ri­ences influ­ence her lat­er life decisions?

5. Scan­dal seems unavoid­able for Isabel­la — do you think it finds her or she finds it?

6. Isabel­la isn’t an artist, yet she does have an artis­tic vision. How do you see this vision through­out the book, pri­or to the open­ing of the museum?

7. Though this nov­el starts in 1861 and clos­es in 1903 with the open­ing of the muse­um, there are many issues dis­cussed that still are rel­e­vant today. Dis­cuss these themes (misog­y­ny, racism, cliquish­ness, etc.).

8. Is there a scene that res­onat­ed for you per­son­al­ly? If so, why? Are you com­fort­able shar­ing this with the group?

9. What did you learn about Boston his­to­ry or world his­to­ry that you did not know pri­or to read­ing this novel?

10. Isabel­la says that we col­lect all that we are. Is there an object in your own home that tells a sto­ry about you? Or a collection?

11. Who — or what — is Isabella’s great­est love?

12. How does Isabella’s old­er voice look­ing back dif­fer from the voice in book 1 – 4?

13. What sto­ry ele­ments sur­prised you?

14. Isabel­la was the first woman to open a muse­um in the Unit­ed States. She decid­ed in her will to state that noth­ing be moved. Why?

15. Were you com­pelled to look up any works of art or details from the nov­el? If so, which ones and why?

16. Why do you think The Lioness of Boston is the title of this novel?

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