The First Lady and the Rebel by Susan Higginbotham

 This is a story of two sisters: Mary Todd Lincoln and Emily Todd Helm. Both women chose to be loyal to their husbands. Abraham Lincoln stood for the rights of humanity. Benjamin Helm decided to be loyal to the South.

1839: Mary Todd lives in Lexington, Kentucky. She visits her sister Elizabeth in Springfield, Illinois, where she meets Abraham Lincoln. She finds him fascinating from the first glance. As a short person, she never cared for tall men, but he is certainly worth tipping the head up. “It was not handsome face by any means, but after years of enduring the good-looking and vacuous young men of Lexington, Mary had concluded long ago that handsomeness was overrated. This man had character in his face, character and intelligence. She had never seen the like.”

“With her habit of saying what she thought and her unladylike interest in politics,” resulted in her preferring men of the North rather than the South.

Emily Todd not able to meet a man of her liking in Springfield, returns to Lexington. In Frankfort, at the first ball of the season, she meets Benjamin Hardin Helm, a new legislator.

February, 1861: The Lincolns are moving to the White House. As President, Abraham quickly becomes a rare trait, listening to all sides of an issue.

Emily’s husband gets an offer of the paymaster’s position by the President, but he declines. Instead, he decides to be loyal to the South, not leaving his wife any choice.

Set against the Civil War, weaving many battles fought, but with details not overwhelming the story; bringing the effects of the war, not only the casualties, but also the unpreparedness to handle the large number of wounded soldiers; and the tragedy of the families being split between the North and the South, resulting in reading about losses of their relatives from the newspaper instead of each other. 

Narrated between two sisters, adding humor to tragedy, in the process creating a touching portrait of two sisters divided by the Civil War.

Informative story, beautifully executed through action, with engaging dialogue moving the story forward. Not a line of stagnation. Superbly written.

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Release date: October 1st, 2019