First published 2014
President Abraham Lincoln sits in the White House as the nation tears itself apart. The Civil War rages outside while another battle unfolds within these walls. His wife Mary spirals into her own darkness, behaving erratically as grief and mental illness consume her. Their sons Robert, Willie, and Tad move through a household where tragedy strikes without warning. Lincoln carries the weight of a divided country on his shoulders while his family crumbles around him. He makes impossible decisions about war and death, all while wrestling with his own deep melancholy. The president who must hold America together struggles to keep his personal world from falling apart. Charyn shows us Lincoln as both the moral leader history remembers and the troubled man his family knew. This is the story of how one person can embody a nation's hopes while bearing unbearable private pain.
Genres: biography, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, 19th-century, historical-drama, american-history
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, political-intrigue
Setting: White House
Period: American Civil War
482 pages · Kindle Edition · Liveright
Content warnings: mental-illness