An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley » (Reprint)

ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. A self-made writer and newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, Ms. Rinaldi attributes her interest in history to her son, who enlisted her to take part in historical reenactments up and down the East Coast. She lives with her husband in central New Jersey.

A fictionalized dual biography by one of the premier writers of historical fiction for young readers.

VOYA

The story opens as the Lincolns are preparing to depart for Ford's Theater. After the assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln pleads to have her best friend and confidante, Elizabeth Keckley, brought to her. Because of the confusion of the moment and because Elizabeth is a black woman, she is denied admittance to her friend. The author then launches the story of Mary Todd's sad childhood, during which her mother died when she was very young. Her father quickly remarried, but Mary's stepmother did not like her and sent her off to boarding school where she was considered an "orphan." Upon graduation, she went to live with her sister in Springfield, Illinois, where she met and married Abraham Lincoln after a tumultuous courtship. Mrs. Lincoln was a woman of many moods, all of which she brought with her to the White House. She was criticized for her unrestrained spending on remodeling her new home and on her own clothing. Enter Lizzy Keckley the expert dressmaker, former slave, and the story of Lizzie's childhood begins. As the mulatto daughter of the plantation master, she worked as a house slave, caring for the master's legitimate children and learning how to sew. The horrors of slavery that Lizzy endured are described in wrenching detail. Eventually buying her own freedom, she became the dressmaker of many wealthy and influential women in Washington and became the only one who could understand and calm Mary Todd Lincoln. The assumption from the title is that these two women were friends from their youth, but they came from two different worlds and never met until adulthood. Each story is fascinating and filled with remarkable gems of historical memorabilia to create a very satisfying read.