The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan

May 10, 2023

The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan

Follows the lives of three families living in Springfield, IL, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, and their different experiences. The Lincolns are Abraham Lincoln's family; the Donnegans are a free black family who assist escaped slaves to freedom; and the Ferreiras are a family of Portuguese immigrants who left their home seeking religious freedom and settled in Springfield. All are affected by Lincoln's presidency and assassination, the Civil War, and emancipation and restoration following the war. 

I enjoyed Horan's previous books so I was looking forward to reading her latest novel. While well-researched, the author tried to cover too much territory historically, and there are too many characters for good character development. She tried to include too many important topics, such as slavery, the Civil War, Lincoln's presidency, the race riots in the early 20th century, Mary Todd Lincoln's life as First Lady. I think the title is also incorrect - I went into the book thinking it was about the Lincoln family, but they really play only a small part. There is much more about the Donnegan family and slavery than either of the other families. Needed a good editor - disappointing.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Springfield's main street and business district, mid-19th century

In the Houses of Their Dead: the Lincolns, the Booths and the Spirits by Terry Alford

September 12, 2022

In the Houses of Their Dead: the Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits by Terry Alford

Two of the most famous families in the 19th century, the Lincolns and the Booths, were both fascinated by spiritualism. Although Abraham Lincoln saw John Wilkes Booth act on a number of occasions, the two men never met personally, although John Wilkes and his brother Edwin both came in contact with Lincoln's sons. Ironically, the two men had much in common: both adored their mothers but had difficult relationships with their fathers; they loved children; they got along well with other men but were uncomfortable with women; they enjoyed poetry and theater, particularly Shakespeare; neither had much formal education and were largely self-educated; and both were ambitious in their chosen professions. For a time, their families even consulted the same medium.

Mary Todd Lincoln had always been drawn to the spirit world and tended to surround herself with like-minded individuals. After the death of her son Willie, she spent most of her time with mediums, spirit photographers, and clairvoyants. Abraham was more skeptical but went along with Mary's visitors, since she could be very difficult to live with. Many who held government posts were firm believers, and Lincoln even helped several spiritualists obtain government jobs. John Wilkes' brother Edwin frequently consulted mediums to contact the spirit of his beloved first wife, Mary Devlin.

Lately I've had a lot of fantasy, sci fi, and dystopian books come in, so I needed something different as a kind of mental sorbet. I decided to try Terry Alford's study of the Lincoln and Booth families' fascination with spiritualism. This was exactly what I needed. I knew something about the practice of spiritualism (mostly that they were all charlatans) but I had no idea that the practice was so widespread. The author discusses how the practitioners carried out their effects and fooled so many people. Very readable and entertaining.

Seances in the 19th century were often a family affair