Janis Cooke Newman

I’ve been enamored of late by good historical fiction, and this novel about Mary Todd Lincoln doesn’t fail to satisfy. Told in the voice of Mr. Lincoln, her story moves back and forth through time, alternating between her life with the President and her post-presidential stay in a mental institution. Author Janis Cooke Newman used letters penned by Mrs. Lincoln during her stay in the sanatorium to piece together the dire and dramatic story of her life and the life of her family.

The first woman to be referred to as “The First Lady,” Mary Todd Lincoln moved from poverty to prominence, and single-handedly made the White House (then referred to as “The President’s House”) the national symbol it is today. As a woman with a keen political mind, Mary Todd Lincoln had little place to exercise her passions. If she assisted her husband in his campaigning she was criticized for “unsexing” herself. Not content to live within the confines of housewife and mother, Mary struggled to carve out a place of her own in an unforgiving cultural landscape.

In one of my favorite scenes Mary, having helped her husband prepare for a campaign speech, then proceeds to make a cake “requiring no less than twelve steps” as penance for moving outside her feminine boundaries. It’s strangely comforting to know that even the First Lady struggled to create a balance between two much loved vocations—motherhood and _______________. (Insert your career of choice here.)

Although Mary is at times quite melancholy, the historical setting and underlying themes of feminism, mental health, and sexuality provide the novel with enough revitalizing energy to counterpoint the sadder moments. This is historical fiction that is both education and entertaining.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Fiction.



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