Book cover of Portrait of Jane: A Life of Lady Franklin

Book description

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. 382pp. Black and white illustrated. Wear to extremities, corners bumped. Good clean sound copy.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Portrait of Jane as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

“John Franklin is not an immediately attractive figure.” So writes Frances J. Woodward in her clear-eyed 1951 biography of Jane, Lady Franklin–a work especially valuable for its bracing portrayal of her husband. Jane was “exceptionally gifted,” but portraits of Franklin “are of a solid, almost bovine, sailorman.” He thought in platitudes, wrote “tedious prose,” and despite experience, retained “a narrowness of mind.” Bidding to be fair, Woodward notes that Franklin was sensitive and loved children, “and his goodness and piety were as substantial as his physique.”

By glossing over Lady Franklin’s secret ramblings with a serenading missionary and failing fully…

From Ken's list on lost Franklin Expedition.

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