Description
Book SynopsisA fifties girl tells the fascinating story of her marriages to novelist Billy Lee Brammer and Congressman Bob Eckhardt, and how these relationships propelled her into the multifaceted life she has led on her own terms.
Trade ReviewThe ‘answer record’ to
The Gay Place – by Brammer’s ex-wife. * Texas Monthly *
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter One
- In the Beginning
- Big Nadine, Little Nadine: 1930s and 1940s
- My Role Model
- A New Life, and New Problems
- Big Nadine
- Growing up, in Body and Mind
- Billy Lee Brammer, 1950
- Young Marrieds
- Testing the Waters, Pushing the Boundaries
- Chapter Two
- 1951-1961: A Wild Ride in Washington
- Meeting "The Senator"
- Wandering Eyes and Hands
- The LBJ Charisma
- The 1956 Election
- A Marriage on the Verge
- Deep in the Heart
- The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
- Sadness Permeated the Marriage
- A Novel Finds Success, but a Marriage Crumbles
- Bill's Swinging Sixties
- Chapter Three
- 1961-1966: A New Love and Politics
- The Power of Fantasy
- Tragedy and the Aftermath
- The Run for Congress
- Chapter Four
- 1967-1969: Life as a Congressional Wife
- Congress, Itself
- Junkets: The Perk That Almost Makes It Worth It
- The Congressional Social Whirl
- A Front-Row Seat to a Revolution
- A Culture in Turmoil
- A More Personal Revolution
- Chapter Five
- The Seventies: Changes, Both Public and Private
- More Changes and a Growing Distance
- Multiple Roles, Many Faces
- Reefer Madness
- Bill Makes an Appearance
- Back Home to Texas, Once Again
- The Death of a Marriage
- An Experimental Walk Down Memory Lane
- Endings Bring Beginnings
- The Nineties and the Circle Closes
- Epilogue
- Index
