I know Brown was trying to bring Dolly Madison to life, but this was just too dry for fiction. ( )

This is a very uneven novel. It is supposed to be Dolley Madison's diary, and I found it very interesting. Then she tells us that her difficult maid, Sukey or Susan, ripped some pages out of the diary, and so there is a big jump in the story, which I thought was very clumsy. Again it was enjoyable, once we got restarted.

Brown keeps emphasizing that Dolley was very opposed to slavery, and that Madison only kept his slaves out of respect for his mother's wishes. In The Invisibles by Jesse J. Holland, there is a very different view of her treatment of slaves, particularly as the Madisons's finances declined, largely due to their indulgence of Dolley's son, Payne Todd, from her first marriage (and he was a Pain). Dolley and Payne began selling them off, in defiance of her husband's will. Let's say that Dolley had great virtues, which Brown praises, and some serious faults, to which Brown pays much less attention.

It did inspire me to visit Montpelior (which I highly recommend), and to buy the Dolley Madison coin that was issued to help pay for its restoration. ( )

Historical novel about Dolley Madison