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When Ellen became ever more independent and earned more money than her husband, he had had enough. “I was too lively for him because I wanted to experience more of life. As visionary as Howard basically was – in his relationship with me he was not open-minded. He did not like the ways in which I had developed and that I paid for our children’s college education and our vacations.”

They decided to divorce. Howard stayed in the community. And Ellen opened a private practice as family therapist in Paoli near Philadelphia. “I was successful. Once almost half of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra came to my practice. I made good money.” And: “America gave me a second life, and my heart lived again – both in the literal and figurative sense.”

David Carney’s wife died, and Ellen visited the widower in 1977 in Dakar where he worked for the UN. “In 1978, the year of my divorce, I married David. My mother got along well with him but said ‘if only he were not all that black…’ One of the first things my husband taught me was not to be so nosy. ‘White people are nosy. Don’t ask so many questions!’”