Book Review - Mary

Mary, by Janis Cooke Newman, is an engrossing historical fiction novel about Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln. The author's meticulous research and attention to detail has produced a first-person narrative that comes across as autobiographical. History has not been kind to Mary Todd Lincoln. She has been described as insane, shrewd, conniving and compulsive - none of which are desirable qualities for a First Lady or any lady of the Victorian era. Mary had some good reasons to be somewhat neurotic and depressed; three of her four sons died at young ages due to disease, the Civil War wreaked havoc on the country, her husband was assassinated and her remaining son had her committed to an insane asylum. Victorian era women were expected to be quiet and demure; Mary was not. Raised in a political household, she used her knowledge to shape her troubled husband into a great orator and politician. To her chagrin, he never quite cared about outward appearances as much as she would have liked, but Mary adored her presidential spouse anyhow. After Lincoln’s death, Mary’s misery and grief deepened. She turned to the occult for clarity and laudanum for sleep. Her struggles were interpreted as "madness" and her son, Robert, had her committed to a lunatic asylum. With the help of a good friend and lawyer, Mary convinced her doctors that she was not insane and was released.
Janis Newman Cooke is a champion for Mary Todd Lincoln. She has taken this historically misunderstood figure and made her a lady who was ahead of her time. -Linda G.