The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters by Julie Klam

[archersangel]

full title is The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters: A True Story of Family Fiction.

from amazon;

Ever since she was young, Julie Klam has been fascinated by the Morris sisters, cousins of her grandmother. According to family lore, early in the twentieth century the sisters’ parents decided to move the family from Eastern Europe to Los Angeles so their father could become a movie director. On the way, their pregnant mother went into labor in St. Louis, where the baby was born and where their mother died. The father left the children in an orphanage and promised to send for them when he settled in California—a promise he never kept. One of the Morris sisters later became a successful Wall Street trader and advised Franklin Roosevelt. The sisters lived together in New York City, none of them married or had children, and one even had an affair with J. P. Morgan.

The stories of these independent women intrigued Klam, but as she delved into them to learn more, she realized that the tales were almost completely untrue.

an interesting book, not only about the morris sisters' lives but about family truths and not lies exactly, but mistaken beliefs about what happened and what didn't in a family. and how much can you believe what you've been told about your distant family.

like; can you believe that your great-great grandfather's brother was on the team that developed some kind of revolutionary invention? or that your grandmother was the inspiration for a character in a well-known novel?