My thoughts
I can say that this is one of the best books I have ever read and I will definitely be looking for more from this author.
The history that I learned was priceless. Things that I had no idea happened. Things that I have read about in other books. So much history in one wonderfully written and very touching book. This woman, Frances Perkins, was a wonderful woman. A woman who should be celebrated. We can all learn a lot from the things she did in her time on this earth. She was a marvel to read and learn about.
The history that I learned was priceless. Things that I had no idea happened. Things that I have read about in other books. So much history in one wonderfully written and very touching book. This woman, Frances Perkins, was a wonderful woman. A woman who should be celebrated. We can all learn a lot from the things she did in her time on this earth. She was a marvel to read and learn about.
This story starts out in New York City February 1933 with Frances Perkins being asked by Franklin Roosevelt to be the first woman to be part of a President's Cabinet. To be his Secretary of Labor. She had expected this and had a list of reasons to say no and a list of things she wanted him to promise help with if she did somehow take the job. She was relentless and he admired her so much that he promised all.
Then the story goes back to New York City Summer 1909. From here you get to know Frances very well. The things she saw in her life and the reasons she fought so valiantly for things to change. Among them child labor laws and social security. To make this country better. To make lives better. People were starving. Some, most, had lost everything and she wanted to end hunger, homelessness, and child labor. Make better lives possible again.
You get to know so much about this wonderful woman. Her life. Her love. Her history. How much she loved and adored her husband. How much she went through to have the beautiful daughter that she finally had. How much she loved her country and sacrificed most of her life for. Fought for so gallantly. The things she believed in.
The story touches on the Shirtwaist fire where so many young girls died. Dropped to their deaths to keep from being burnt alive. The dust bowl. And her fight for the family by introducing and fighting for the social security insurance. Not a handout but to be paid by the employees so that when they did get old they were not left to die homeless and hungry. You get to see her biggest fight was for her family. At least that is how I saw it. She wanted her husband to be ok and her daughter to have a good life.
This book touches on miscarries, mental illness, hunger, and death. It will rip your heart out in places but mend it in others. So well written and researched. This author did a magnificent job of writing the story of Frances Perkins.
Read the "Author's Notes" at the end. That part is so important. Shows exactly how much heart and soul was put into this book.
Thank you #StephanieDray #Berkley #NetGalley for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
Five big stars and I can't begin to recommend it enough. It's so good.
About
She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.
When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.
But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.
Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.
When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.
But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.
Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.
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