Seven Wives and Seven Prisons: Or, Experiences in the Life of a Matrimonial Monomaniac. a True Story

Seven wives. Seven prisons. One remarkably upbeat narrator. This 1870 memoir chronicles the spectacularly unfortunate life of L.A. Abbott, a man whose quest for matrimonial happiness somehow led him to both the altar and the penitentiary in equal measure. Born in upstate New York, Abbott married young, badly, and repeatedly, each union more chaotic than the last. When he wasn't navigating the wreckage of romance, he was navigating the criminal justice system, including a bewildering trial for forgery committed by a relative. What elevates this beyond mere curio is Abbott's extraordinary tone. He writes about disaster with the cheerful perspective of someone convinced his next marriage (and inevitably, his next imprisonment) will finally deliver the happiness that has eluded him. The result is a darkly funny, unexpectedly poignant window into Victorian America's strange attitudes toward love, law, and personal responsibility.