Courting Mr. Lincoln

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Bayard, Louis, Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Bayard, Louis
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Bayard, Louis	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Bayard, Louis	4-week checkout	In transit

"A miracle; an exquisite story exquisitely told . . . If you love Jane Austen, or Hamilton , or fiction--of any era--that transports and transforms in equal measure, look no further." --A.J. Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window From the prizewinning author of Mr. Timothy and The Pale Blue Eye comes Courting Mr. Lincoln , the page-turning and surprising story of a young Abraham Lincoln and the two people who loved him best: a young, marriageable Mary Todd and Lincoln's best friend, Joshua Speed. When sparky and independent Mary Todd arrives in Springfield, Illinois, in the 1840s to live with her sister, who is determined to find Mary a husband, she is astonished to find herself drawn to an awkward, melancholic lawyer with a gift for oratory. The two share ambition, an obsession with politics--and a need to be suitably married off. Always at Lincoln's side, however, is the charming Joshua Speed, a shopkeeper who became his mentor in society, loyal friend, roommate--and possible lover. Told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Todd and Speed, this witty, psychologically astute, and brilliantly plotted novel follows the threesome during Todd and Lincoln's tumultuous courtship, with all the suspense and delight of the best Jane Austen novels. Historians have long speculated that Lincoln and Speed had a romantic relationship, and here Bayard explores that forbidden possibility with deep empathy. Rich with both period detail and contemporary insight, Courting Mr. Lincoln offers smart storytelling at the highest level.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Excellent book submitted by denisemw on June 16, 2019, 9:05am Best book that I have read in a long time. Compelling story set in Springfield. One of those books where you don't want to put it down. Underscores the differences in backgrounds and personalities of Abe and Mary Lincoln, and the bond of friendship for a relatively solitary Lincoln. You get the sense he may not have had many relationships but they were deep. Mary could made a life with a person more outwardly suitable for her but choose otherwise. Extremely well written.