Eleanor Roosevelt #1
This is a pleasant read, with the added bonus of having Eleanor Roosevelt, a remarkable human being and perhaps our greatest first lady, as one of its main characters. In this novel, which takes place in 1951, we find her in the middle of the cold war, a widow and a former first lady working for human rights in every possible manner. The action begins when Eleanor and her secretary, Kay Thompson, discover the body of a young woman in the bathroom of a train. The girl proves to be the missing daughter of a friend who had asked Eleanor to look into her disappearance.
Filling in for her aunt “Tommy” (Roosevelt’s real long time secretary), Kay is new to the job. Young and beautiful, she’s hoping she’ll meet a husband while working for the former first lady, but what she doesn’t expect, and what makes this novel a journey of identity, is that Mrs. R will profoundly change her perspective on life. Kay and her employer get involved in the investigation of the girl’s death which may involve the Soviets – it’s the height of the Cold War and the atmosphere is cloudy with paranoia. When the jurisdiction changes from the local police to the FBI, an organization Eleanor is familiar with, she has a bit more leeway to investigate.
But Kay discovers that what Eleanor is even more familiar with is human nature, and it’s her insight into the character of the people involved that allows her to solve the crime. In the midst of all the mystery, the reader is taken on an atmospheric tour of the early 1950s that feels only too authentic. As Kay struggled through some unwanted advances herself – advances she takes for granted though does not enjoy – I remembered my aunt saying she couldn’t watch the television show Mad Men because the handsy, arrogant, sexist men were all too realistic and took her back to a place she didn’t want to be.
Kay has to decide if she wants to be a pampered, confined wife or a free ranging woman like Eleanor who owns her own home (very unusual for the time). Meanwhile, the book introduces other real-life characters like Jack and Bobby Kennedy and Jaqueline Bouvier, all very young and not yet attached to one another. Kat admires Jackie’s work as a photographer, and the future First Lady ends up helping her find a vital clue.
Sprinkled throughout – and bolstered by epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter – are Eleanor’s practical words of wisdom. Eleanor’s spirit infuses the book, though she is in fact technically a secondary character. It’s interesting to see the pairing of a confident older woman (Eleanor would have been in her mid 60’s at the time) with a young one still figuring out her life. This is a solid read and a decent mystery with a solution that’s somewhat unexpected while remaining believable. The heartbreak of the dead woman is not slighted and the mechanics of an investigation involving the influence of a beloved former first lady are strong elements here. I liked meeting Kay and enjoyed seeing her begin her journey to full adulthood. This first voyage is a good start to a series following that path. — Robin Agnew