Love Interrupted, by Deborah Pratt Curtiss

a memoir of growth and fulfillment

Can a woman ever attain a fundamental freedom from the fact of her own womanhood?

For celebrated painter Deborah Pratt Curtiss, the answer could only be found by picking up a brush and stripping away the expectations of a conformist society.

In Love Interrupted, Curtiss delivers a beautifully crafted, dual-thread memoir that interweaves her fifty-three-year career in the fine arts with a clandestine romance that spanned nearly her entire life. Born into a patriarchal household and raised to believe a woman was “nobody” without a husband, Deborah broke the mold to study at Yale, eventually emerging as a prominent figure in the Philadelphia art community.

But beneath her professional triumphs and professional classical singing was a secret she carried since she was two years old: a deep, unyielding love for her cousin, Per. Separated by family decrees and marriages on the rebound, their connection remained a quiet sanctuary through decades of heartbreak, grief, and self-discovery.

Written with “complete candor, integrity, and authenticity,” Love Interrupted is an inspiring testament to the power of creative expression and the resilience of a love that waited a lifetime to finally be sung in concert.