Memaw Reads

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Star

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Ebook

Historical Setting: Revolutionary America

I found this book at the perfect time, as our country was celebrating its 250th anniversary of independence. Abigail Adams was an incredibly strong and independent woman, and I loved following her life from her early years at sixteen through the Revolutionary War, the birth of a nation, and well into her seventies.

We see Abigail holding her family together during the war, sometimes on her own for years while John was away serving the country, presiding over the White House during his presidency, living through the burning of the nation’s capital, and eventually watching her son become president. She made enormous sacrifices to help build this new nation, often putting her own comfort and happiness—and sometimes those of her children—aside.

I especially loved the relationship she had with both her husband and her children. Abigail was intelligent, patriotic, fiercely independent, and a champion for women’s rights and abolition. Her partnership with John was fascinating to watch. Their relationship had its highs and lows, but there was a genuine respect and partnership between them that I really enjoyed.

Stephanie Drey and Laura Kamoie did an excellent job bringing Abigail’s life to the page—the joys and heartbreaks of marriage, the birth and loss of children, war and peace, and the tumultuous world of early American politics. I learned so much about Abigail Adams and the book definitely held my attention from beginning to end.