Hidden love in the White House in 1930s and 1940s America, from a master storyteller at the height of her powers

In 1933, President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt took up residence in the White House. With them went the celebrated journalist Lorena Hickok - Hick to friends - a straight-talking reporter from South Dakota, whose passionate relationship with the idealistic, patrician First Lady would shape the rest of their lives. Told by the indomitable Hick, White Houses is the story of Eleanor and Hick's hidden love, and of Hick's unlikely journey from her dirt-poor childhood to the centre of privilege and power. Filled with fascinating back-room politics, the secrets and scandals of the era, and exploring the potency of enduring love, it is an imaginative tour-de-force from a writer of extraordinary and exuberant talent.

"Breathtakingly intimate... If White Houses isn't an example of the great American novel then frankly, I don't know what is ... heartening and refreshing" - Financial Times

"A tender, heart-warming exploration of a hidden but profound love...[Bloom] takes the historical moment and opens it up, prising it apart to let in the light" - Irish Times

"Hick is a compelling narrator ... White Houses reflects on what it means to at least try to take up the responsibilities politicians are given" - Guardian

"A spare meditation on heartbreak" - Sunday Times

"This historical novel tells the story of Lorena Hickok - the first female journalist to get a byline on the cover of The New York Times - and her friendship and alleged love affair with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt" - Elle

"From its brief opening sentence to its gloriously poetic, heart-wrenching final paragraph, this is an extraordinarily accomplished piece of fiction. Bring on all the prizes" - A Life in Books

"Amy Bloom is descriptively dazzling, her dialogue perfectly pitched and her finger on the pulse of what it is to be human and unmasked, to be knowingly flawed and to seize intimacy (mostly) without giving a damn for the danger" - Jewish Chronicle

"A candid and intensely realized celebration of love" - TLS

"A refreshingly open tale of love in later life" - Financial Times

"This reimagining of their relationship, told from Hick's perspective, swirls us back and forth in time. In the heat of their first passion, Hick lives at the White House. Then time, responsibilities, unreasonable dreams and widowhood intervene; the affair cools to friendship. Hick's love for Eleanor is at the heart of the story - but more often minor characters, such as FDR's discarded mistress, leave a deeper impression" - The Times