5 Books About Scandalous Love Affairs 

Historian Adrian Goldsworthy reframes the ancient world’s most infamous lovers by cutting through centuries of myth to reveal the calculated political alliance at the heart of their relationship. He argues that Cleopatra was a pragmatic ruler fighting for Egypt’s survival and that Mark Antony’s partnership with her—sealed with children and vast territorial grants—was a strategic gamble that ultimately led to their defeat by Octavian at Actium. The Daily Express of London praises the book, which unfolds against the shifting empires of Rome, Greece and Egypt, for “forcefully reminding us of the most salient aspects of their story while dispersing the romantic fog that has clung to them.”

BUY HERE: Antony and Cleopatra

Franklin & Lucy centers on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s clandestine love affair with his wife’s social secretary Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, drawing on newly uncovered letters and firsthand accounts to trace a relationship that began in 1914, prompted Eleanor Roosevelt’s ultimatum after the affair was discovered in 1918 and quietly resumed during FDR’s presidency. “Franklin Roosevelt’s affair with Lucy Mercer early in his career nearly destroyed his marriage to Eleanor, but he promised to end the relationship,” says Barbara Perry, presidential studies professor and co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. “Yet Lucy and FDR rekindled their romance near the end of his life—and she, not Eleanor, was with him when he died.” 

BUY HERE: Franklin & Lucy

Artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are remembered not only for their bold, boundary-pushing art but also for their complicated love. Reef traces their relationship from Kahlo’s near-fatal bus accident and the self-portraits that emerged from her long recovery to Rivera’s politically charged murals and their shared commitment to Mexican communism, detailing the betrayals—including Rivera’s affair with Kahlo’s sister—that led to divorce and remarriage. “Their marriage was one of the most tumultuous in history, filled not only with passion, pain and betrayal, but also they were two people who couldn't live with–or without–each other. They also happened to create art that helped define the 20th century,” says Elizabeth Kerri Mahon, author of Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History’s Most Notorious Women, noting that the book contains archival photos of the couple and their most famous paintings. “While this biography is geared more towards young adults, it is not only engaging and enlightening, but also a very good gateway into their lives.” 

BUY HERE: Frida & Diego

This New York Times bestseller from a former Hollywood Reporter executive editor delves into the affair and marriage of two of the 20th century’s most famous actors, drawing on newly available letters and diaries to chronicle Leigh’s struggle with bipolar disorder, Olivier’s infidelities and the professional rivalries that shadowed their collaborations on stage and screen. “I was a little obsessed with the love story of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier growing up after seeing Fire Over England and That Hamilton Woman,” Mahon says. “I've probably read every book written about both actors. I found this to be a well-rounded, entertaining biography about their passionate, volatile romance.”

BUY HERE: Truly, Madly

Mahon calls this biography of the relationship between Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Camilla Parker Bowles "remarkably even-keeled.” Drawing on his personal acquaintance with the couple, Brandreth traces their relationship from their early 1970s romance and the pressures that led them to marry other partners, through the fallout of the 1993 “Camillagate” scandal and Princess Diana’s death, to their eventual 2005 wedding and Camilla’s slow public rehabilitation. “I've read a lot of books about the British royal family, and this book is a revealing portrait, told with insight, sympathy and humor,” Mahon says. “Brandreth is acquainted with both King Charles and Queen Camilla, but the book doesn't read like a sycophantic biography.”

BUY HERE: Charles & Camilla