Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters (edició 2020)

I won this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program back in April 2020, but never received a copy from the publisher (William Morrow). It still appeared on my Not Reviewed list (I've been an Early Reviewer since November 2007), so I checked my libraries and borrowed the e-book from one of my libraries.

Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters is another of Jennifer Chiaverini's books about Mary Todd Lincoln and people associated with her (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, Mrs. Lincoln's Rival). Mary Todd Lincoln had sixteen siblings in all (twelve of whom survived to adulthood), but this book focuses on her three full sisters (elders Elizabeth Todd Edwards and Frances Todd Wallace, and younger Ann Todd Smith) as well as one of her five younger half-sisters (Emilie Todd Helm).

The book starts in 1875, when Elizabeth learns that Mary's oldest and only surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln, has had her committed to a(n expensive) mental hospital. Mary convinces people visiting her to reach out to her sisters (from whom she's been estranged) to "rescue" her.

The book then alternates between the four sisters' viewpoints, as well as various times in the past and present, to depict Mary's childhood in Kentucky; her years with married sister Elizabeth in Springfield, Illinois, searching for a husband; her marriage to Lincoln and his rise to the presidency; and the years in the White House during the Civil War and the aftermath of his assassination.

The Civil War sharply divided Mary's Kentucky-based family. Elizabeth, Frances, Ann, and their husbands, long based in Springfield, supported the Union. Their three half-brothers fought for the Confederacy, as did Emilie's husband (he was a general killed in the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga). One full brother died in 1864 in Kentucky under mysterious circumstances; the other was a surgeon who served in a Confederate hospital in South Carolina. Her other four half-sisters were married to men who either fought for the Confederacy or sympathized with it.

Through her sisters, the reader learns how Mary - generally through her own actions - has become estranged. The sisters have different opinions about Mary's mental state, with Emilie perhaps the most sympathetic, having also lost her husband due to the war, and being a favorite of Lincoln - he called her "Little Sister." Elizabeth continues the motherly role she had as a child, being the oldest, taking Mary in when she manages to convince the hospital to release her. Frances and Ann wonder if Mary is acting out for the attention she's always craved.

Although Chiaverini provides some of her sources in her author's note, she doesn't clarify where she has deviated from fact to create her fiction, as so many other authors of historical fiction do. This book can stand alone from the other Mrs. Lincoln's books, but it would be helpful to read Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker before this book. There are references in Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters to said dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley, as well as more examples of Mary Todd Lincoln's erratic behavior during and after her White House years. ( )

This story didn't draw me in. It was clear to me that Mary TL was emotionally unstable, and her plight did not cause me to pity her. Her son and her sisters did what they could for her, but none of them were written as very interesting characters. The whole thing just left me feeling ho-hum.

Our meeting went very well yesterday. I liked the book, most didn't. Complaints were mainly that it jumped around in time too much and that the sisters had chapters devoted to just them but Mary did not. ( )

I enjoyed this novel about Mary Todd Lincoln and her sisters and I especially appreciated the focus on Mary's life after the White House, when she went through an illness referred to as madness but which seems more like severe depression. Mary's mental health struggles dominate the chapters set in the later years of her life, as her sisters grapple with how to best care for her, while the chapters set earlier in Mary's life detail the complicated family history of how the Todds ended up on different sides of the Civil War. I find the Todd family fascinating for this reason, and I appreciated this novel's fictional insights into their family life. I'd highly recommend this book for those interested in historical fiction set during the Civil War era. ( )

I really enjoyed this in-depth look at the life of Mary Lincoln, the author did an awesome job of giving a glimpse into the personal life of the former First Lady.
Such heartbreak, no wonder some of the things that went on in her life happened. How to deal with such grief, enough to break almost anyone.
We meet and get to know a lot of Mary’s family, and of course, her sisters. Now her Dad had two wives and so there is quite a bit of family. We get to meet and know most of them, and how they come in time of need.
I cringed at her feelings for her son Robert, but keep reading. We also see the love, hate relationship of sisters, and then a war that puts siblings on separate sides.
I was quickly drawn into this story, and although fictional, it is rich with history! ( )

The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker returns to her most famous heroine, Mary Todd Lincoln, in this compelling story of love, loss, and sisterhood rich with history and suspense.