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If Ever Two Were One: A Private Diary of Love Eternal
That is the daguerreotype of my darling's innocent and beautiful soul ... her soul was the violet of my home, fragrant with heaven's own breezes, and lovely with a modest charm that kept me and keeps me her lover as in the days of yore.
--Francis Ellignwood Abbot, 1894
--Francis Ellignwood Abbot, 1894
304 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 11, 2022
More like a 10 out of 5 stars. This is the best 19th century diary I’ve read yet.
Genuinely reduced me to a blubbering mess. Had to order my own copy to prevent the library copy from taking water damage (and just needed it on my shelf forever)
Obviously Frank and Katie's relationship (courtship, 34 year marriage, and Frank's suicide 10 years after her death) is the focal piece of this book, and I'm absolutely in love with them and their love.
But I also want to call attention to these quotes from the beginning, when Frank began university:
"The sophomores still keep up the barbarous custom of “hazing,” which renders the life of a freshman full of anxiety for his furniture, and everything else belonging to him.”—Frank Abbot, 1855.
And upon getting hazed by finding a mini explosive made of a quill and powder in his dorm a month later: “I should like to have his nose opposite my fist.”
University life hasn't changed, and Frank Abbot is such a funny and down-to-earth writer even in his personal diary that I can't believe how fortunate it is that this book was able to be compiled. His paraphrased conversations with his friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are also so fun and interesting to read.
If you want a genuine understanding of how our ancestors are no different than us today, pick up this book.
Actually, scratch that rating,,,, a million out of five stars
Genuinely reduced me to a blubbering mess. Had to order my own copy to prevent the library copy from taking water damage (and just needed it on my shelf forever)
Obviously Frank and Katie's relationship (courtship, 34 year marriage, and Frank's suicide 10 years after her death) is the focal piece of this book, and I'm absolutely in love with them and their love.
But I also want to call attention to these quotes from the beginning, when Frank began university:
"The sophomores still keep up the barbarous custom of “hazing,” which renders the life of a freshman full of anxiety for his furniture, and everything else belonging to him.”—Frank Abbot, 1855.
And upon getting hazed by finding a mini explosive made of a quill and powder in his dorm a month later: “I should like to have his nose opposite my fist.”
University life hasn't changed, and Frank Abbot is such a funny and down-to-earth writer even in his personal diary that I can't believe how fortunate it is that this book was able to be compiled. His paraphrased conversations with his friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are also so fun and interesting to read.
If you want a genuine understanding of how our ancestors are no different than us today, pick up this book.
Actually, scratch that rating,,,, a million out of five stars
December 29, 2018
This is a love story in its truest form.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews