The Lioness of Boston

The Lioness of Boston (2023) is a historical novel by the American writer Emily Franklin. It focuses on the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner, an influential American art collector and the founder of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Franklin utilizes details from Isabella’s life to explore themes of personal agency, feminism, and the defiance of social norms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This guide references the 2023 Godine edition; this edition of the novel contains a chapter numbering error in Part 1 and skips Chapter 16. This guide corrects this numbering error, though it may be present in other editions of the novel.

Content Warning: The novel and the guide reference infertility, miscarriage, suicide, and infant death.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in Boston, in 1861. Isabella is 21 and newly married to Jack Gardner, a wealthy Boston businessman; the couple moves into a beautiful mansion on Beacon Street. Isabella is opinionated and outspoken; she does not fit into Boston society. Apart from her sisters-in-law, Harriet and Julia, Isabella is quite isolated and lonely. She longs to become a mother and suffers emotionally as she struggles to conceive. She channels her energies into intellectual pursuits, architecture, gardening, and design. In 1863, Isabella finally gives birth to a son, nicknamed “Jackie.” However, Jackie dies in 1865; later that same year, Isabella has a miscarriage and is told she will never have more children. Her beloved friend and sister-in-law, Harriet, also dies. Isabella falls into deep grief and depression.

Desperate to alleviate his wife’s unhappiness, Jack takes his wife on a trip to Europe. Isabella is invigorated by travel and becomes interested in meeting artists, intellectuals, and writers. She also becomes interested in collecting rare books. In 1875, Isabella and Jack become the guardians of their three orphaned nephews (the sons of Harriet and Jack’s brother). Caring for their nephews gives Isabella a new sense of purpose; she also continues to expand her social circle and becomes known for socializing with a circle of male writers, artists, and intellectuals. Between 1882 and 1883, Isabella has an extramarital affair with a writer named Frank Marion Crawford. In 1886, Isabella’s eldest nephew, Joe Gardner, dies by suicide.

Isabella becomes increasingly interested in acquiring notable pieces of art during her frequent travels to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; her art collection is supported by the large inheritance she receives after her father’s death in 1891. She spends significant amounts of time in Europe, especially Venice, and feels that she has finally found a sense of purpose. A notable art historian named Bernard Berenson assists her with the acquisitions.

As Isabella’s collection grows, she and Jack discuss the idea of building a new home to house their artworks. Isabella chooses a plot of land in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood and oversees the design of a building inspired by Venetian palazzos. In 1898, Jack dies, but Isabella continues with their building plans. The new space, named Fenway Court, becomes the site where her art and other collections are displayed, and Isabella celebrates the opening of the building with a lavish party on January 1, 1903. When Isabella dies in 1924, she leaves instructions for nothing to be moved or changed at Fenway Court.