LADIES: A CONJECTURE OF PERSONALITIES
Category: Historical Fiction
Publisher: PublishAmerica Type: Fiction
Pages: 265
ISBN: 1592863612 Copyright: Jan 1 2003
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First Ladies from Martha Washington through Mamie Eisenhower write their chapters - the others chime in.
“Ladies….” Is a book a voices. First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower tell their own stories – or, to be more exact, whatever they want – in their own words and in their own styles.
“Ladies….” Crosses boundaries between fact, conjecture and, most importantly, centuries. Through dialogue-boxes, the Ladies talk to each other across Eternity, where anything is possible. The Modern First Ladies, from Mrs. Kennedy through Mrs. Clinton participate in commentary.
They talk to the reader and they talk amongst themselves. And they sympathize, empathize and quarrel amongst themselves. They talk about their husbands, and their children, and the White House, and the times they lived in. And, of course, politics.
Excerpt;
MARY TODD LINCOLN
1818-82
First Lady: 1860-1865
I have no secrets. How could I? Every moment of my life has been analyzed, scrutinized and criticized. More has been written about me than any First Lady except Eleanor Roosevelt. And now that Mrs. Kennedy is with us in eternity, I suppose history will have its way with her, too, poor thing. When you have a strong personality instead of a submissive, compliant one, you are bound to make enemies, and further bound to have people slant information the wrong way. There are dozens of books purporting to define my life. All of them are correct, and all of them are wrong. Like the Blind Men and the Elephant. But I thank Lucy Hayes and Caroline Harrison for this opportunity to set the record straight on several issues.
I was born into a prominent Kentucky family in December, 1818. The Todds were well known throughout the State, and counted no less a figure than Henry Clay as a close personal friend. I was a Kentucky belle, educated at a fine finishing school. When I was twenty, I paid an extended visit to my sister in Springfield, Illinois, where I met Abraham Lincoln, among other suitors. We married in 1841, had four sons, one died as a babe. We prospered. Mr. Lincoln was elected President. We moved to the White House, fought and won a terrible War, and he was assassinated. I fell apart. Those are the true facts of my life.
Now, to correct the fallacies, the lies, the rumors and the gossip. First: I was not nearly as “plump” as people think. I had a round face and a short neck, and with those enormous hoop skirts of the 1860’s, I probably looked like a bubble. I was five-foot-three inches tall, and at my very heaviest, four children notwithstanding, weighed, maybe 130 pounds. Maybe. I was short-waisted, but I had slim hips and long legs for my height. People today would say I was an “apple” rather than a “pear.” Julia Grant outdid me by at least forty or fifty pounds.
