Love Is Eternal: A Novel about Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln by Irving Stone
For some reason, I have always been fascinated by Mary Todd Lincoln. So for me this was an easy choice! While this book was more in the realm of historical fiction than biography, I found that I enjoyed reading of the relationship of Mary and Abe. From the beginning, with the differences in their social status', to Mary's hardened determination to make their personal and political relationship work, I found it all very fascinating. She was definitely a strong woman, ahead of her time, which may be why so many have taken issue with her over the years. It seemed that no matter what obstacle was put in their way, she found a way to go around or through it.
Particularly difficult to read were the chapters about the deaths of their sons. At that point of the book, I was fully engrossed in everything that Mary was as a person so to imagine her going through this experiences was difficult.
I firmly believe that because of the type of woman Mary was, this led Abe Lincoln to be the president that he was. She was constantly pushing him to be more forthright,
While this book took me a couple of weeks to read (it was almost 500 words), I found myself looking forward to reading it and enjoyed learning more about this part of history.
3 comments:
500 words or 500 pages?
I recently did a first ladies jigsaw puzzle, and I found myself somewhat fascinated by Mary Todd Lincoln, although she also kind of scared me a little bit (but maybe that was just the picture).
Sounds like a powerful book about a powerful woman. I always like to hear about the women behind the "great men."
Sounds like an interesting book. Great random choice.
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