I’m delighted to feature the cover of Stephanie Dray’s soon-to-release novel Becoming Madame Secretary. If you haven’t read any of Stephanie’s novels, I encourage you to run out (or go online) to buy one of them. The first one I read is America’s First Daughter. Following that I eagerly awaited My Dear Hamilton, then Ribbons of Scarlet and The Women of Chateau Lafayette. Her writing is superb, her stories compelling and the history is fascinating.
And what a great cover – colours that attract the eye, the prominent female figure with a purposeful stride, the hat that signals the time of the novel, the chauffeur to signify an important person, the White House in the background to give us a sense of place.
Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and richly dramatic novel about Frances Perkins, one of the greatest political figures of the twentieth century, and an unsung heroine whose legacy is woven into the fabric of every American life.
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.
When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.
But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.
Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.
Becoming Madam Secretary is available for pre-order at:
Amazon, B&N, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org, Apple, Google, Kobo, Walmart
You can read more about Stephanie Dray, her books, and her writing on the following posts: Reflections on Writing Historical Fiction, My Dear Hamilton, The Women of Chateau Lafayette, an Interview with Stephanie Dray.
FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION FOLLOW A WRITER OF HISTORY
M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel is THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, a dual timeline set in Hong Kong. Mary’s other novels, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.
