In 1864, the nation was riveted by a society divorce trial that had everything: cheating, wealth, feuding brothers and lurid details Weisbergs sensitive examination reconstructs the trial while giving dimension to the real-life people involved.The New York Times Book ReviewEditors Choice

Shocking revelations of a wifes adultery explode in an incendiary nineteenth-century trial, exposing upper-crust New York society and its secrets.

What could possibly go wrong in a wealthy matriarchs country home when her dilettante son, his restless wife, and his widowed brother live there together? Strong Passions, rooted in the beguiling times of Edith Whartons old New York, recounts the true story of a tumultuous marriage. In 1862, Mary Strong stunned her husband, Peter, by confessing to a two-year affair with his brother. Peter sued Mary for divorce for adulterythe only grounds in New Yorkbut not before she accused him of forcing her into an abortion and having his own affair with the abortionist. She then kidnapped their young daughter and disappeared.

The divorce trial Strong v. Strong riveted the nation during the final throes and aftermath of the Civil War, offering a shocking glimpse into the private world of New Yorks powerful and privileged elite. Barbara Weisberg presents the chaotic courtroom and panoply of witnessesgoverness, housekeeper, private detective, sisters-in-law, and many otherswho provided contradictory and often salacious testimony. She then asks us to be the jury, deciding each spouses guilt and the possibility of a just resolution.

Social history at its most intimate, Strong Passions charts a trials twists and turns to portray a family and country in turmoil as they faced conflicts over womens changing roles, male custody of children, and mens powerfinancial and otherwiseover wives. 1 illustration