Frances Perkins may not be a household name, but after reading BECOMING MADAM SECRETARY, by Stephanie Dray, I feel she should be. This work of historical fiction is based on her life and what a life it was. She devoted herself to public service, often at great personal costs. Readers follow her as she tackles poverty and the horrid working conditions in New York City from the 1900s forward. Her reputation and the friends she made eventually made her a public figure, but she never actively sought a political life. Then she met Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the unlikely pair formed a relationship that changed this country. Brilliantly presented is the face and character of an exemplary public servant. If there was ever a role model, it is Frances Perkins. She married a man she loved deeply and respected, but her love was not enough to stave off his illness She often had to make impossible choices and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. While there is much that is noteworthy about this novel, what I found especially fascinating is the author's attention to detail. She brings to life a large cast of believable characters. Impeccably researched and eloquently told, BECOMING MADAM SECRETARY is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.
When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.
But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.
Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.
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