This is a memoir written by the wife of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan. The book is unusual for a number of reasons. First, it is rare to find a record written by the spouse of a Supreme Court Justice. Second, the time period about which Mrs. Harlan writes spans the Civil War era (yeah for me). And, finally, it includes some insights into the impressions of a girl brought up in the North who, in the 1850s, goes to live in Kentucky with her husband's slave-holding family. The imp More...

Its like your grandmother telling you stories about her life, if you grandmother lived through the civil war and was married to a Supreme Court justice. She's a little too polite (not enough gossip or sordid details) but a charming, pleasant read.