Dear Abigail

Author: Diane Jacobs
Genre: History / Biography
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2014
Pages: 528
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Much has been written about the enduring marriage of President John Adams and his wife, Abigail. But few know of the equally strong bond Abigail shared with her sisters, Mary Cranch and Elizabeth Shaw Peabody, accomplished women in their own right. Now acclaimed biographer Diane Jacobs reveals their moving story, which unfolds against the stunning backdrop of America in its transformative colonial years.
 
Abigail, Mary, and Elizabeth Smith grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts, the close-knit daughters of a minister and his wife. When the sisters moved away from one another, they relied on near-constant letters—from what John Adams called their “elegant pen”—to buoy them through pregnancies, illnesses, grief, political upheaval, and, for Abigail, life in the White House. Infusing her writing with rich historical perspective and detail, Jacobs offers fascinating insight into these progressive women’s lives: oldest sister Mary, who became de facto mayor of her small village; youngest sister Betsy, an aspiring writer who, along with her husband, founded the second coeducational school in the United States; and middle child Abigail, who years before becoming First Lady ran the family farm while her husband served in the Continental Congress, first in Philadelphia, and was then sent to France and England, where she joined him at last.
 
This engaging narrative traces the sisters’ lives from their childhood sibling rivalries to their eyewitness roles during the American Revolution and their adulthood as outspoken wives and mothers. They were women ahead of their time who believed in intellectual and educational equality between the sexes. Drawing from newly discovered correspondence, never-before-published diaries, and archival research, Dear Abigail is a fascinating front-row seat to history—and to the lives of three exceptional women who were influential during a time when our nation’s democracy was just taking hold.

Review: I really enjoyed this book which was surprising because I had expected the tedium that Book of Ages was. Diane Jacobs brought the Adams sisters to life though, which in fairness was probably easier to do since more is known of them. Not only that Abigail Adams led an interesting life. She wasn't just a wife and mother in a time when being a wife and mother was all that was really expected of women.

This book ties in quite nicely with The Hemingses of Monticello, because Abigail Adams is mentioned a few times in that novel. Early on, the Adamses were good friends of Thomas Jefferson's, meeting and boarding his daughter and Sally Hemings when the two girls arrived in England prior to joining Jefferson in France. This is never mentioned in Dear Abigail. Eventually John Adams and Thomas Jefferson came to have different opinions on the role of government and their relationship became strained.

Also interesting in this novel was the mention of the Barbary pirates and Tripoli. This was the subject of one whole chapter in Miracles and Massacres. I would have read the few paragraphs in this book without much note because the pirates and Tripoli was merely mentioned, not discussed. 

Washington's battles for New York are also mentioned, though not discussed. This ties in Washington's Secret Six. 

I plan to read more novels set in the 18th century. It was a fascinating time.