by Dan Abrams
First published 2018
Summer 1859 finds Abraham Lincoln at a crossroads in Springfield, Illinois. The self-taught lawyer has built his reputation over two decades and more than three thousand cases, including twenty-five murder trials. Now he faces his most challenging defendant: twenty-two-year-old Peachy Quinn Harrison, accused of murder. The case tears at Lincoln personally. The victim once studied law in Lincoln's office and counted him as mentor and friend. The accused killer is the son of a close friend and political supporter. Lincoln's recent debates with Senator Stephen Douglas have thrust him into the national spotlight as a potential presidential candidate for 1860. A loss in this highly publicized trial could destroy his political future before it begins. To win, Lincoln must ally himself with a revivalist preacher who has publicly attacked him as an infidel unfit for office. The courtroom becomes a battleground where Lincoln fights not just for his client's life but for his own political survival.
Genres: historical-fiction, biography-memoir, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, high-stakes
Setting: Illinois, Springfield
Period: 1859, 19th-century
320 pages · Hardcover · Hanover Square Press