This is a reasonably good fictionalized biography of Martha Washington. If you want more solid historical material I recommend Elswyth Thane's biography, but if you want something lighter, this book is clean and harmless.Basically the novel is like a rather bland Masterpiece Theatre dramatization of Martha's life--kind of like The Adams Chronicles, minus the great lines. I've always liked the Washingtons, so I enjoyed it. If I had been younger--like 12, or 13--I would have been more thrilled by the romance element ( What an honor to be known as Lady Washington!) but the adult me found Nancy Moser's attempt at their love story to be a bit sedate and predictable. Ok, good points and bad points coming up:Good Points: 1: The author has most of her facts straight, although she's noticeably lacking in a grasp of the big picture of what went on during the Revolution. I've seen much worse attempts at historical fiction than hers. At any rate she doesn't smear filthy slurs and silly feminism into everything. 2: All scenes involving very young children are good. In fact, I feel her ability is much stronger with younger characters. She should emphasize the child's point of view more. 3: The sections involving Martha's grief at the death of her daughter Patsy were surprisingly strong. Death is a hard theme to handle and Nancy Moser did not disappoint me. 4: The ending line is effective, also some of the scenes with George's teeth problems are surprisingly cute. 5: The author characterizes Martha realistically as an ordinary woman, interested in clothes and babies and her life at home, not as some impossible warrior lady or bragging intellectual. This is true to Martha's personality and makes her relateable. Bad Points:1: Martha is really the only character in the book. It doesn't help that the novel is written in first person, but I don't want to blame everything on style. Nancy Moser doesn't develop any of the other characters much at all. They are all seen, rather blurrily, through Martha's eyes, and we don't get to know any of them deeply. Sadly, this includes George himself, who remains an admirable stick of wood from beginning to end. ( At least, that's my opinion. If anyone reading this felt he was a thrilling male lead, please forgive my insulting him. :P )2: On the whole, the presentation of Britain was self righteous and unfair. And the presentation of the Revolution as God's plan--as if God was also Britain's enemy--was a bit childish. God cared about the outcome of the war, of course, but I imagine His way of caring about it was not much like the way of the people involved. ;)3: All areas with Sally Fairfax were silly. The only thing I can say for the author here is she didn't try to steam up the rumored affair between George and his friend's wife. But she did nothing to make Martha look like a poised, intelligent woman during this episode, and the general idea that George William wouldn't mind if Sally cheated on him--because he was English, and the English are a morally corrupt people, unlike the incorruptible Americans--I found just hilarious. As for the rumor that George William wanted Washington to give Sally a baby, since Sally had given him no heirs, most responsible people have considered it to be unlikely and I am inclined to agree with them. Old gossip is still gossip, and some stories are harder to believe than others. If a thousand years from now people read rumors that Michelle Obama had an affair with Robert Downey Jr ( and Barack, of course, didn't object at all to the proceedings), it would still be a dumb story and smart people would dismiss it as speculation. :P4: The opening of the book was a bit angsty and smacked of the Brontes. Martha's first father-in -law may have been a difficult man, and her mother-in-law ( George's mother) may have been a difficult woman, but in this book they didn't come across as difficult. They came across as unmotivated. Overall, this was a nice book in some ways. I liked the way it honored the hard work that ordinary women do every day. But it wasn't perfect. No book is. That doesn't make it not worth reading, if you're a fan of the Washingtons. :) I read this for my neighborhood book club. It was mildly interesting to read about the people. Martha Washington was the narrator in the story, so it easy to relate to her struggles and feelings of so much death and loss in her family. You could also understand the pain and worry that came from the separation and war that continuously took George from her. While that part of the story is easily told in novel form, I would have preferred to read about George and Martha from a more historical perspective. By the author's own admission, she created events throughout the book. I also think some of her perspectives and biases came through the story. That may be understandable, but that is also why I would have preferred nonfiction to fiction.
What do You think about Washington's Lady (2008)?
Awesome book to give you a new perspective on the American Revolution. Highly recommended.
—Dlehman
I liked Mozart's Sister better, but this was still an interesting read.
—ostler
Moser's writing style and voice makes this book a joy to read.
—liontinx
