The Election of 1872
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I scroll through thousands of tweets to find books that pique my interest so I can share my curated list with you.
What books pique my interest and beckon to me?
A cover that is creative, lovely and inviting.
An author with an interesting bio on Twitter who is an engaging poster.
A book blurb that sounds fresh, intriguing or lyrical.
I have no special formula– just “aha! I can’t wait to read this book.”
I do not solicit manuscripts. I curate these on my own. Because…I am a writer who loves to read, learn and encourage!
This week I read: Madame Presidentess by Nicole Evelina
Literature and Fiction, Biographical Click on the Book cover for more information!
I believe that the hallmark of a good book is how much it makes me think. As soon as I read the last page of Madame Presidentess, I turned to the internet and found more information to read about Victoria Woodhull and the issue of women’s suffrage.
Born Victoria Claflin in Ohio in 1838, Victoria’s childhood was difficult. She was one of ten children. Her father was a shyster and petty criminal and her mother was illiterate, but believed in Spiritualism. Victoria and her sister Tennie helped to support the family by working as clairvoyants and Victoria visited with her “spirits” her whole life. She guided her life’s work by a promise given to her by a spirit. “Demosthenes had foretold I would be queen of this land.”
Victoria was abused as a child and she married an abusive husband. However, she rose to become the media sensation of her day. She and her sister moved to New York, were befriended by Cornelius Vanderbilt, and became the first women to open a stockbroker office.
As a spiritualist and clairvoyant, Victoria had been moved by tales of physical and emotional abuse, sexual exploitation, abandonment and pain that women had shared with her. These feelings fueled her desire to join the fight for the right of women to vote and led her to be nominated as the first female for President by the Equal Rights Party.
Victoria was both a great champion for herself as well as her own worst enemy.
Her platform was radical for her day. She fought for the vote for women, workers’ rights and free love.
“I was not cheating on my husband but expressing the bond of love.”
When faced with difficulties, she tended to fall back on the questionable tricks she had learned from her parents, revealing secrets and threatening to blackmail public figures of her day, such as Henry Ward Beecher.
Eventually Victoria became “too much trouble”. She was arrested for sending obscene material through the USPS and jailed a few days on election day 1872. She wasn’t even able to try to vote for herself. The book ends with her declaring, “Stop our presses, they may, but our tongues, never!”
Author Nicole Evelina has written an engrossing and fair account of Victoria Woodhull’s life and times. Readers will enjoy learning about this colorful character, told as a clear and well-written story.
About the Author
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