Mrs. Poe

Way back in eighth grade I read The Raven and the Telltale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. I remember how creepy I thought his books were, but haven't read him since.  Yet, when I saw Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen I didn't hesitate for a moment to read it.  

This fictionalized memoir focuses on Frances Osgood, a writer who has been left by her husband, and who becomes entangled with Edgar Allen Poe.  Poe's wife is just twenty-three, a child ten years earlier when the two married, but who is dying from consumption. Virginia Poe and Frances Osgood form a friendship of sorts, despite Frances' love for her friend's husband.

This is a bit of a tangled web with some creepy elements thrown in.  I knew nothing of Poe's personal life or his path to success, so that this entire novel was full of interesting bits of information.

Mrs. Poe is another great novel I can add to my growing list of fictionalized memoirs, a fabulous read.