For instance, this excerpt from a letter to John, written by Abigail reads as follows:
The cold has been more severe than I can ever before recollect. It has frozen the ink in my pen, and chilled the blood in my veins, but not the affection for him for whom my heart beats with unabated ardor through all the changes and vicissitudes of life, in the still calm of Peacefield ( their home), and the turbulent scenes in which he is about to engage.
Amazing, right? As a family, they had five children. John Quincy was off to Russia at the age of 14, receiving diplomatic training that would make him a natural for our sixth president. Charles and Thomas would descend into alcoholism, a daughter Susannah died at the age of two, another daughter Nabby died at 40 after a long struggle with breast cancer. McCullough is able to give these long gone characters heart. The death of Nabby affected me just as emotionally as the death of Shelby in "Steel Magnolias", and I was inconsolable when Abigail died.
Another reason to read is the behind the scenes notes that you get from Abigail's constant journalling and correspondence. For instance, it is Abigail who first meets Sally Hemmings (Thomas Jefferson's mistress who was one of his slaves as well as his wife's half-sister) and deems her too young to be working with Jefferson's children. We also see Jefferson's life long money difficulties and Benjamin Franklin's philandering and ridiculous antics in the French Court.
Oh, this book is great!!! The mini-series is great as well.
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