Helpful Score: 2
A New York Times notable book, this book is actually very well written and is ambitious; a good book for readers interested in historical fiction, especially historical fiction based around "suburbia" in 1865.
Helpful Score: 2
Wonderful historical fiction, surrounding the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. The author's style is eminently readable and narrative, and he has teased from history two minor players in the drama that night at Ford's Theatre and shared with us an imagined picture of their lives both before and after. They are a wealthy society couple from Albany, with access to the highest social levels of the time, and he paints a picture of their young lives, their courtship throughout the Civil War, their presence with the Lincolns that fateful night....and most engagingly and disturbingly, the subtle ripples of the consequences of that night to their lives. Uniquely imagined and exceedingly well told--historically accurate fiction that is truly a pleasure to read.
