Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

3.5 stars

An adequate attempt at bringing the real-life dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln into awareness, while also highlighting the historical events of the Civil War and later years.

After a strong start at introducing the reader to Elizabeth Keckley, the freed slave who is also a talented seamstress, the story seems to lag by the middle of the novel because more emphasis is placed on patching in the historical events, rather than developing Elizabeth's character and voice.

The author's other books in her Elm Creek Quilt series seem to be more successful at balancing the need for historical accuracy with developing the characters, but in this stand-alone novel, I felt rushed past the inner life of Elizabeth while various events took place–Mrs. Lincoln's histrionics about being denied a widow's pension, her schemes to “guilt” people into providing for her, Elizabeth's dealings with her memoir, etc.

This book was okay as a glimpse into Mary Todd Lincoln's personality and her historic presence in the White House, but I was disappointed by the story's turn towards a shallow list of events in the Civil War historical timeline.