She had the presidentâs ear and the nationâs heart.
Sheâs the wife of the fourth president of the United States; a spirited charmer who adores parties, the latest French fashions, and the tender, brilliant man who is her husband. But while many love her, few suspect how complex Dolley Madison really is.
Only in the pages of her diaryâas imagined by novelist Rita Mae Brownâcan Dolley fully reveal herself. And there we discover the real first ladyâimpulsive, courageous, and wiseâas she faces her harshest trial: in 1814, the United States is once more at war with mighty Britain, and her beloved James is the most hated man in America.
From the White House receptions she gaily presides over to her wild escape from a Washington under siege, Dolley gives us a legend, made warmly human. For there has never been a first lady so testedâor one who came through the fire so brilliantly.
She had the presidentâs ear and the nationâs heart.
Sheâs the wife of the fourth president of the United States; a spirited charmer who adores parties, the latest French fashions, and the tender, brilliant man who is her husband. But while many love her, few suspect how complex Dolley Madison really is.
Only in the pages of her diaryâas imagined by novelist Rita Mae Brownâcan Dolley fully reveal herself. And there we discover the real first ladyâimpulsive, courageous, and wiseâas she faces her harshest trial: in 1814, the United States is once more at war with mighty Britain, and her beloved James is the most hated man in America.
From the White House receptions she gaily presides over to her wild escape from a Washington under siege, Dolley gives us a legend, made warmly human. For there has never been a first lady so testedâor one who came through the fire so brilliantly.