The Lioness of Boston

1. General Impressions

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

• Emily Franklin has not written another historical fiction book, but she writes widely in diverse genres: bildungsromans, LGBTQ+ literature, young adult romance, memoir, and comedy, to name a few. Did this book get you interested in Franklin’s writing style? Does it make you interested to check out her work in other genres?
• What other books have you read that have to do with “high society” at the turn of the 20th century? For instance, Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. How does this book compare to other books about elite individuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
• What other books have you read that have to do with the fine art business? For instance, The Goldfinch or The Art Forger (which centers around the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum). How does this book compare to other books about the fine arts world?

2. Personal Reflection and Connection

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

• As she seeks intellectual fulfillment, Isabella begins collecting art. Are you someone who appreciates or is interested in fine art? If so, did this enrich your enjoyment of the book? If not, do you feel like this hindered your enjoyment?
• Isabella faces myriad interpersonal struggles and tragedies through the novel. Did any of these struggles stand out to you as particularly impactful, considering your own life experiences and views?
• Isabella is a complicated protagonist: On the one hand, she breaks gendered stereotypes of her time, but she also has an extramarital affair and removes artworks from their home, colonized countries. How does Isabella’s gray morality affect your opinion toward her?
• Isabella continues to develop complex parts of her identity—both interpersonal and professional—well into her forties and beyond. Are there any aspects of yourself you only fully embraced, realized, or explored in adulthood? How is this different from developing a passion, interest, or identity in youth?

3. Societal and Cultural Context

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

• How are Isabella’s intellectual pursuits related to and enabled by her social privilege? What types of privilege are necessary to live the life Isabella lived?
• In what ways does Isabella’s character—her personality and actions—defy the gendered expectations of her time? Do these expectations change between the novel’s beginning in the early 1860s and Isabella’s death in 1924? You might think about Isabella as a lover, mother, and intellectual, for instance. How does this novel depict gendered expectations? Though the novel’s temporal setting is the late 19th and early 20th centuries, do any of these expectations survive into the 21st century?

4. Literary Analysis

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

• Isabella finds love and begins collecting her art in middle age. Considering her character’s development over the novel, what events contribute most to Isabella’s development of her passions?
• How do the characters surrounding Isabella perceive expectations for women? How do these perceptions influence the growth of their characters and their relationship with Isabella?
• What do you believe is the transgressive action that contributes most to Isabella’s character? How does this shape her, the plot, and her relationships?
• While this novel’s title, The Lioness of Boston, calls attention to a single geographical setting, travel and movement are also vital to Isabella’s character and the plot. In what ways are both the static setting of Boston and the myriad settings introduced by travel important to the novel’s characters and plot?

5. Creative Engagement

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

• Using the “Explore” function on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website, scroll through the collections and choose a piece of art that you feel speaks to the novel’s characters, plot, or themes. Return to the group and explain your choice and its connections to the novel.
• While much of the novel is historical, other parts, like most of Isabella’s correspondence with author Henry James, are fictionalized. Fictionalize another interaction between Isabella and a contemporary artist or author. What would they write to one another?

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