A rose for Mrs. Lincoln;: A biography of Mary Todd Lincoln

by Dawn Langley Simmons

A rose for Mrs. A biography of Mary Todd Lincoln by Dawn Langley Simmons.

197 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons (15 October 1937,[1] or unknown date in 1922, depending on source[2][3][4] – 18 September 2000) was a prolific English author and biographer.[3] Born "Gordon Langley Hall", Simmons lived her first decades as a male. As a young adult, she became close to British actress Margaret Rutherford, whom she considered an adoptive mother and who was the subject of a biography Simmons wrote in later years.

Wikipedia

Reviews

[Judy Dudley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me longer than I thought it would to read this biography of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln. It wasn't as engaging as I had hoped. The writing style (written in the 1960's) was stilted at times. There were too many facts and not enough interesting stories.

I did find the ending of the book somewhat intriguing, though. It seems that Mrs. Lincoln spent some time in an insane asylum near the end of her life, being sent there by her son Robert. He was afraid that she was not being sensible in how she was taking care of her finances and he thought she was going insane.

The last few years of her life, according to this biographer, were quite depressing and lonely. The book left me feeling sorry for her because of (what sounds like) the poor choices she made which brought her to such a sad end.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to read a biography for a change. I learned a lot about the Lincoln family. Good, easy read.

[Cws]

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