Book Review: Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters by Jennifer Chiaverini

I enjoyed Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters, an account of Mary Todd Lincoln's later years. It was a perfect companion to Courting Mr. Lincoln, which I read last year.

Elizabeth, Mary's oldest sister, has been informed that Mary has been institutionalized because she has attempted suicide. Her witnessing the assassination of her husband and then the death of her son just a few short years later has taken its toll. Elizabeth and most of Mary's other siblings have been estranged from Mary for years, but Elizabeth wants to help. But Mary won't answer any letters from any of her siblings. They are assured by Mary's oldest and only remaining son that she is being well taken care of.

We get varying perspectives, and therefore opinions, of what they should do about Mary from other siblings, Francis, Emilie, and Ann. They agree they must overcome their differences to help, but they don't agree on what is best.

As the current story is told, we get flashbacks all the way to Mary's childhood, the death of her mother, her education, the courtship, her political life, the Civil War, and of course, the assassination.

All in all, we get a detailed picture of Mary's life. But is she insane? Did she need to be institutionalized?

As I mentioned, Courting Mr. Lincoln did a great job of describing a mostly missing piece of the history of Abraham Lincoln, and Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters did overlap in that area a bit. But I have become somewhat enamored with the Lincolns, and really enjoyed these perspectives. What a fascinating and tragic life Mary Todd Lincoln had.

If you are interested in this piece of history, I highly recommend Chiaverini's account of Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters.

Published by William Morrow, June 2, 2020
eARC obtained from NetGalley
352 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate

Yay! I finally finished a book! It would seem that since we are all sitting at home by ourselves that it would be conducive to reading. But for me, that has not been the case...

The Book of Lost Friends takes us back to 1875, where our narrator is Hannie, a former slave in this recent post-civil-war era.

And, back to 1987, where our narrator Benny is a brand new teacher in a small backwoods Louisiana school for black children.

We learn how Hannie was separated from her mom and many siblings when she was very young. Now she is just trying to work her land so that it will eventually belong to her. When the master of the plantation disappears, Hannie is worried that all their hard work will be for nothing if they can't find the papers that were signed when they began to work the land. She goes on a harrowing adventure with some unlikely companions to find the master. On this adventure, she learns about a newspaper called the Southwestern that runs ads from black people who are looking for family that they were separated from before the war. Hannie and her companions begin to collect these stories and record them in a book as they travel.

Benny is struggling to connect with her students. They are poor and hungry and many of them don't come to school very much. She finds out the abandoned Gossett mansion close to her rented house contains a treasure trove of books. She vows to talk to her landlord about possibly getting her hands on some of them for use in her classroom. Doing this opens up a whole new history and gets Benny's students interested in learning about their pasts.

I don't want to say too much about how the two stories come together--I'm sure some of it is obvious to you. But the way it all is revealed is a very good story to read. Anyone who is interested in the history of the South and slavery shouldn't miss it.  I did find The Book of Lost Friends a bit slow at times, but the characterizations are so good that you really become attached to these people.

You may have to persevere (I certainly did) -- but I think you will find The Book of Lost Friends well worth your time.

Published by Ballantine, April 7, 2020
eARC obtained from NetGalley
400 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Audiobook review: Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver

Unsheltered left me with mixed feelings. The story wasn't much, but the writing, well, if you've never read Kingsolver you won't understand how enamored I am with her writing.

So, yes, I'll always pick up a book written by Kingsolver. Unsheltered follows two timelines of people who live in the same house. The first point-of-view is Willa in 2016. She lives in an old Victorian house with her husband and adult daughter. The house is literally falling down, and as the story progresses, they are confined to less and less space.

Willa is trying to get the house designated as historic, so she can get some grants to help fix it up. There is much soul searching, as she reflects on the past and how hard they have worked and still don't even have enough money to make basic repairs to the house. The stories of her two children are integral to the plot as well. Her daughter is appalled at the damage that our civilization has done, and continues to do, to the earth. Her son is mourning the loss of his wife and has left his newborn son with Willa.

As Willa is researching the historical significance of the house, she discovers (eventually) that Thatcher Greenwood, a local science teacher, may have lived in her house in the1870s. Part of the reason he is significant is because of his relationship with a renowned woman scientist, Mary Treat, who lived next door. Thatcher's house is also in disrepair, and he also doesn't have enough money to fix it. It is just as well, because his desire to teach about Darwin's theories will most likely be the end of his employment by the local conservative school.

Kingsovler does a good job switching the narration and building a connection between these two eras. Her command of prose just mesmerized me. She narrates Unsheltered herself and this is the second book I've listened to that she has narrated. I wouldn't say she's a great narrator. She's not very good at male voices--some of them just sound drunk. But I appreciate her doing it. I feel like the author alone knows the proper emphasis and emotion she wants to convey. A couple of times I think she got a little choked up.

All in all, Unsheltered is my least favorite of her offerings. I could recommend just about any other of her books before this one, but if you are a Kingsolver fan, be sure to include this in your list.

Published by Harper, 2018
Audiobook obtained from libro.fm
480 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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