Helen Keller in Love

An interesting peek into Helen Keller's adult life

?Helen Keller in Love? by Rosie Sultan is a story about Helen Keller when she was 36 years old and her love affair with her secretary, Peter Fagan. It is told through the voice of Helen Keller. The target audience for this book is young adults/adults.

Reading the synopsis of this book really intrigued me. Helen Keller really was an amazing woman who overcame incredible obstacles and her story deserves to be told. Usually we are only told the story of the childhood of Helen Keller, but this book takes us directly into her adult life.

Helen?s companion, since the time she was 7 years old, was Anne Sullivan. Anne Sullivan continued to be Helen?s main companion and interpreter until her death, I believe. This story illustrates that Anne was a bit controlling and she completely tried to dissuade Helen from ever pursuing a romantic relationship. Helen?s mother had the same agenda also. When Anne is diagnosed with tuberculosis, she is forced to bring in another person to be Helen?s secretary until she can get better. Thus, in comes Peter Fagan. Helen is immediately drawn to Peter Fagan. I don?t see why she was unless it was because he was the first non-related male she came into close contact with and the thrill of that made Helen pursue him. Peter immediately takes to Helen and they begin a secret romance.

Although this book was told with Helen as the narrator, I sometimes forgot that she was deaf or blind. How did she know of conversations that didn?t include her? Sometimes the author would allude to sounds such as ??crossed the room in a sslap-sslap-sslap of her bare feet.? I guess it could mean what the vibrations felt like, but to me it came across more as what it sounded like rather than felt like. But this is just a minor issue. Helen Keller must have been very lonely and really wanted to have independence, which would be impossible since she had to rely on someone for everything such as picking out her clothes or telling her what was going on in the world. This book highlights her loneliness and her dependence on Anne Sullivan. The relationship with Peter seemed rushed and a little unrealistic, but perhaps that was the way it really was.

We never think about what Helen?s life was like after childhood and this book was an interesting peek into her adult life. There were some minor issues with the story that I didn?t like, but overall it was a good read and I learned some really interesting things about Helen and Anne and what life must have been like for both of them? they both depended on and needed each other. Was this detrimental or instrumental to their relationship? That is up to the reader to decide.
**This book was received for free through Goodreads First Reads. That in no way influenced my review.**