Subtitled A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley.
The book is done somewhat different from Ann Rinaldi's normal books. Rather than tell a person's story all the way through, this one is divided into a number of sections. First there's the day of Lincoln's assassination and shortly thereafter, which involves both of the novel's main characters. Then it goes into a section of Mary Todd's upbringing, then a section of what happened to her later. After that, a fourth section goes into Elizabeth Keckley's upbringing, and the last section goes into what happened to her later.
It's a very interesting book, although it's almost as if it should really have been two separate books about the people individually since there's not a real great deal of actual interaction between the two.
It does show that Mary Todd spent way beyond her means, especially during her time in the White House, and that she definitely had issues. The picture painted of her is not flattering at all.
Elizabeth Keckley's story is, I think, more interesting than Mary Todd's story, and she seems to be actually the better of the two women, the one a person would rather get to know and to talk to.
Main Index
Yadult Index
