Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly

[Gene C]

Written by Jennifer Fleischner.
On the book cover, under the title "The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between A First Lady And a Former Slave"

Pretty interesting book. Well researched and well written. She presents some aspects of both women's lives that I had not thought of, and also draws some conclusions I don't quite agree with. 325 pages of text and 33 pages end notes. This book is basically a biography of both women, from birth to death.

My main disappointment in the book - it's not until page 202 that they meet each other. The assassination and time until Mary leaves Washington DC takes about 8 pages. Mary's used clothing sale scandal and Elizabeth's book "Behind the Scenes" takes only 15 pages. Their remaining years following this takes only 7 pages.

The book has a lot of background information that is interesting, but I was disappointed that only 1/3 of the book dealt with The Remarkable Story of Their Friendship and time together. Their post White House years was inadequately covered. Could also have used a few more and better photographs.

https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Lincoln-Keckl...fleischner

There are two reviews on Amazon that expressed better than I did, what I felt were the weaknesses in the book. They are by E Evans (3 star rating) and Jackie Rowles (2 star rating).