UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY is actually the third fictional
account I have read about Lorena "Hick" Hickok and
Eleanor Roosevelt. And, I would, without any problems, read
at least three more. I find both women fascinating to
read about and I like reading new books that take a
different look at their relationship.
The story in UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY takes place at the
beginning of the 1930s when FDR is campaigning to be
president. Hick is trying her hardest to get an interview
with his wife and after some failed attempts finally
manages to get Eleanor to sit down with her. And, that is
the start of a love story that for a short time blossoms
until the hard reality sets in.
I found the book fascinating to read from the very start.
The story takes some liberties of course since one can
only speculate about their relationship. However, letters
that they wrote to each other are preserved and they
point to a very deep relationship.
One thing that I think Kelly O'Connor McNees really
manages to convey was how many sacrifices both Hick and
Eleanor had to make. Hick had to choose between her job as
a journalist and her relationship with Eleanor. Eleanor
also had some hard choices to make after FDR became
president. As the First Lady, she had the power to make
changes, but at a personal cost.
Another thing that I really loved about the book was the
creation of the town of Arthurdale. How Hick and Eleanor
dreamed about creating a town where coal miners and their
families could live in real houses instead of in tents. A
fantastic project that unfortunately led to the end of
their relationship as it was.
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY is one of those books that will stay
with me. The writing is beautiful and the characters
really came to life. This is a book that I warmly
recommend to people that love to read biographical
fiction!
An extraordinary novel portraying one of the
greatest untold love stories in American
politics.
In 1932, New York City, top
reporter Lorena “Hick” Hickok starts each day with a front
page byline—and finishes it swigging bourbon and planning
her next big scoop.
But an assignment to cover FDR’s
campaign—and write a feature on his wife, Eleanor—turns
Hick’s hard-won independent life on its ear. Soon her work,
and the secret entanglement with the new first lady, will
take her from New York and Washington to Scotts Run, West
Virginia, where impoverished coal miners’ families wait in
fear that the New Deal’s promised hope will pass them by.
Together, Eleanor and Hick imagine how the new town of
Arthurdale could change the fate of hundreds of lives. But
doing what is right does not come cheap, and Hick will pay
in ways she never could have
imagined.
Undiscovered Country artfully
mixes fact and fiction to portray the intense relationship
between this unlikely pair. Inspired by the historical
record, including the more than three thousand letters Hick
and Eleanor exchanged over a span of thirty years, McNees
tells this story through Hick’s tough, tender, and
unforgettable voice. A remarkable portrait of Depression-era
America, this novel tells the poignant story of how a love
that was forced to remain hidden nevertheless changed history.
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