How did the industrialist Andrew Carnegie transform into a
noted philanthropist, donating libraries around the world
from his great wealth? Speculation following a letter he
wrote to himself at the age of thirty-three has led Irish-
American author Marie Benedict to invent CARNEGIE'S MAID.
Perhaps the great man had a maid, somewhat like her own
family who worked in service in Boston, and that maid
influenced her employer.
In 1863 Clara Kelley arrives in New York after forty-two
days in the misery of steerage. Her Galway family has sent
her to secure employment, and she makes for Pittsburgh
since a cousin is working in the steel-mill city. Her name
is the same as a girl from second class travel, so she is
taken for a trained lady's maid and driven to Pittsburgh
before anyone is the wiser. Amusingly Clara passes herself
off as the new version well, mainly by staying correctly
silent. She is upset by being assumed to be Anglo-Irish
instead of Catholic, but finding a good position keeps her
mouth shut.
Wow, Mrs Carnegie comes across as well-written. Domineering
yet insecure by reason of her swift elevation from hard-
working, scrimping Scots folk, she imitates the upper
classes to which she now belongs. Today, sombrely-dressed,
she sets the styles, but she is also concerned to be doing
everything correctly in the eyes of others. Her sons Andrew
and Tom continue the railroad development begun by her
family, though the Civil War is in progress. She is heavily
involved in their business interests. While entertainment
is muted during wartime, social calls -- and work for
domestic staff -- continue unabated.
This classic character study also describes hard times in
two countries. Through our heroine Clara's eyes we see the
soot-filled city, the insane opulence close by the
desperate poverty and risk of cholera. Her relatives here
have factory work, which keeps them fed, and Clara realises
just what her life would have been without the Carnegie
house. Andrew Carnegie turns out to be not classist, and he
converses with the maid about Elizabeth Barrett Browning's
poetry. Not everyone approves.
Andrew tells CARNEGIE'S MAID about himself, so the reader
can build up a picture of his hard times, keenness to get
on and financial nous. He educated himself through a
lending library open to working boys. Personally I grew up
reading from a Carnegie Library in Dublin, so I would like
to thank this man. Maybe I also have to thank his Irish
maid. I love that thought.
From the author of The Other Einstein, the mesmerizing
tale of what kind of woman could have inspired an
American dynasty.
Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She's not the
experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of
Pittsburgh's grandest households. She's a poor farmer's
daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets.
But the other woman with the same name has vanished, and
pretending to be her just might get Clara some money to
send back home.
If she can keep up the ruse, that is. Serving as a lady's
maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills
he doesn't have, answering to an icy mistress who rules
her sons and her domain with an iron fist. What Clara
does have is a resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh
is becoming famous for, coupled with an uncanny
understanding of business, and Andrew begins to rely on
her. But Clara can't let her guard down, not even when
Andrew becomes something more than an employer. Revealing
her past might ruin her future -- and her family's.
With captivating insight and heart, Carnegie's Maid tells
the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred
Andrew Carnegie's transformation from ruthless
industrialist into the world's first true
philanthropist..
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