If you haven’t read any of Stephanie Dray’s novels, you should rush right out – or onto your favourite electronic source – and buy her latest novel Becoming Madam Secretary for an amazing price of $6.99!!
My first Stephanie Dray novel was America’s First Daughter, a story based on the life of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph. Not only was this story fabulous, Stephanie co-wrote it with Laura Kamoie and it is seamlessly done. Not long after that, I read My Dear Hamilton, the story of Alexander Hamilton’s life told from the perspective of his wife Eliza Schuyler Hamilton – also co-written with Laura Kamoie. I could go on, but let me summarize by saying that Stephanie Dray truly transports readers in time and place with strong characters, highly emotional and dramatic circumstances, and historical authenticity.
The latest Stephanie Dray novel is Becoming Madam Secretary – the story of Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary who served during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration as the Labor Secretary from 1933 to 1945. The compassion and determination of Frances Perkins shines in this novel from the opening pages when she worked in the crowded tenements of Hell’s Kitchen to the demanding days of fighting for social justice in the New York state legislature, and ultimately as the architect of Social Security following the Great Depression. Perkins believed God called her to live a life of public service and she gave that life everything she could.
Readers will be amazed at Frances Perkins’s accomplishments from the 1920s through to the 1940s and beyond. Such accomplishments were particularly difficult for a woman working in a political world dominated by men. However, Frances Perkins was tireless in pursuit of change that would benefit the working class and made her share of enemies.
“My dear girl, making a few enemies is how you know you’re doing things right,” said Florence Kelley, a suffragist and true pioneer of equality, and a woman Frances greatly admired.
What also makes the novel shine are the relationships Frances has with Roosevelt, with her daughter Susanna, her husband Paul Wilson, and with her close friend Mary Harriman Rumsey, a wealthy socialite.
Becoming Madam Secretary is a compelling and captivating story that features romance, friendship, heartache and the complex corridors of political power. Highly recommended. And you’re in luck! Bookbub is running a $6.99 sale of the digital version of Becoming Madam Secretary from June 18-21st.
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.
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.
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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, 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.
One Response
I, too, am a big fan of Stephanie Dray. I enjoyed Madame Secretary. Dray made what could have been a dry top very interesting. My favorite of hers is The Women of Chateau Lafayette. I love how she stays true to the research but is willing to bend a little to make the story appealing to modern readers. And I like that her books are long. You can really get into the story.