Eilene Lyon

“The First Ladies”

This 2023 book is by the same authors as “The Personal Librarian”: Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. The story is a fictionalized look at the close friendship and activism of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune, two women from entirely different places and backgrounds.

Bethune, an educated Black woman, has learned to work the system to advance the rights of Blacks in the South from her home in Daytona, Florida. She uses her entrepreneurial skills to create a school, hospital and many other businesses. She is committed to her purpose and not easily intimidated.

Roosevelt is a reluctant political spouse with a deep love of teaching, living in New York and part of a wealthy political dynasty. She’s a mother and a wounded spouse, betrayed by Franklin’s affair with Lucy Mercer. She struggles to develop a public face and a purpose of her own, now that her children are mostly grown and her husband’s career has negated hers.

The friendship between these two begins in fits and starts, with Eleanor making assumptions about Mary, and Blacks in general, that don’t sit well. But they make progress and when Franklin is elected to the presidency, the real work of the relationship begins. The pair use their connections to help ensure that the New Deal will work for all Americans, not just white ones.

At times, I felt the book was harshly critical of FDR, though others in my book club disagreed. He had a larger picture to consider and contentious political opponents. He’s not the focus, though, of course. The story is told alternately in each woman’s voice, giving us perspective into their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as their planning and motivations.

Though the authors alter the dates of some events for narrative purposes, they do follow history. The characters are real people and portrayed with depth—sometimes they even surprise you! The New Deal era is not one I’m well-versed in, beyond what I learned in school (and we know how lame that can be). Bethune is also someone I was unfamiliar with, though she was a prominent leader, famous even, in the civil rights movement.

16 comments

  1. I just wrote a long response saying this book would be a good follow up to the one I’m reading right now, The Invention of Wings (Sue Monk Kidd) as it is based on the real life character Sara Grimke who was gifted a slave on her eleventh birthday. The story is written in the two voices of Sara and Hetty(her slave). Sara doesn’t believe in slavery, but it takes her some time to realize the choices she makes does little to make any difference. I’ve been having trouble on different sites leaving responses, I hope it works this time!!

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