An Inconvenient Widow by Lois Romano

 

Title:  An Inconvenient Widow

Author:  Lois Romano

Narrated by:  Cassandra Campbell

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 15 hours and 28 minutes

Source: Thank-you to  @simon.audio #SimonAudioInfluence for the audiobook review copy and #HistoryBuffsBookClub @History_In_Five  for the physical copy.

Do you have a favorite first lady or woman in history that you like to read about?  I have enjoyed reading about the First Ladies of the United States of America since I was a kid.

Mary Todd grew up as a part of Southern aristocracy in Kentucky with a keen interest in politics.  She had a goal to marry a future president and she was key in pushing Abraham Lincoln to greatness.  After his assassination, she was vilified in her widowhood and committed to an asylum by her own son. Who was this complicated “brilliant and flawed” woman?

My thoughts on this book:

·       Peers thought that Lincoln was smart but needed Mary to push him to achieve his heights.  This was forgotten after his death and Mary Todd Lincoln’s character was assassinated.

·       Lincoln died without a will, and the executor didn’t give Mary much to live on for two years.

·       Mary probably did have an undiagnosed mental problem, but a lot of her physical problems seemed to be due to undiagnosed diabetes.

·       In a time when women were not involved in politics, Mary had tenacity and a drive forward.

·       Did Mary have a compulsive shopping addition?  Her behaviors meet a modern-day diagnosis. She would swing between being very cheap to wildly overspending. She wanted to decorate the White House as befitted the presidency but didn’t realize the optics of how spending sprees would look with the country at war.  She also would accept what she thought were “gifts” from merchants only to get bills sent to the White House later.

·       She endorsed the Union cause, which is not what others said about her as she was from Kentucky and had half brothers that fought for the south.  She visited wounded soldiers, but this would not be discussed by the press and was not widely known for decades.  She found solace in comforting others.

·       It’s sad that Mary’s only remaining son, Robert, treated her the way he did.  He seemed to be focused on controlling Mary’s money.

·       This was riveting on audiobook with a great narrator.  The physical book has great pictures as well as detailed notes at the end.

·       It was interesting that Waukesha, Wisconsin was once a hotbed of spiritualism after the Civil War.  Mary spent a lot of time visiting Wisconsin and Waukesha after the war.

·       One of the saddest lines was that at the age of 52, Mary had lost three of her sons, her husband, and her parents.  Besides her estranged son Robert, she was alone in the world. 

Overall, An Inconvenient Widow by Lois Romano was a fascinating look into the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, in particular, on how she was treated after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.  I was riveted by this book.