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The Courtship of Eva Eldridge: A Story of Bigamy in the Marriage Mad Fifties
Everyone got married in the 1950s, then moved to the suburbs to have the children of the soon-to-be-famous baby boom. For Americans who had survived the Great Depression and World War II, prosperous married life was a triumph. The unwed were objects of pity, scorn, even suspicion. And so in the 1950s, Eva Eldridge, no longer so young and marginally employed, was the perfect target for handsome Vick, who promised everything: storybook romance, marital respectability, and the lively social life she loved. When he disappeared not long after their honeymoon, she was devastated.
Eva hadn’t always been so vulnerable. Growing up pretty and popular in rural Oregon, she expected to marry young and live a life much like that of her parents, farming and rearing children. But then the United States threw its weight into World War II and as men headed to battle, the government started recruiting women to work in their places. Eva, like many other young women, found that life in the city with plenty of money, personal freedom, and lots of soldiers and sailors eager to pay court was more exhilarating than life down on the farm. After the war, she was ambivalent about getting married and settling down—at least until Vick arrived.
Refusing to believe her brand-new husband had abandoned her, Eva set about tracking down a man who, she now believed, was more damaged by wartime trauma than she had known. But instead of a wounded hero, she found a long string of women much like herself—hard-working, intelligent women who had loved and married Vick and now had no idea where—or even who—he was.
Drawing on a trove of some eight hundred letters and papers, Diane Simmons tells the story of Eva’s poignant struggle to get her dream husband back, as well as the stories of the women who had stood at the altar with Vick before and after her. Eva’s remarkable life illuminates women’s struggle for happiness at a time when marriage—and the perfect husband—meant everything.
Eva hadn’t always been so vulnerable. Growing up pretty and popular in rural Oregon, she expected to marry young and live a life much like that of her parents, farming and rearing children. But then the United States threw its weight into World War II and as men headed to battle, the government started recruiting women to work in their places. Eva, like many other young women, found that life in the city with plenty of money, personal freedom, and lots of soldiers and sailors eager to pay court was more exhilarating than life down on the farm. After the war, she was ambivalent about getting married and settling down—at least until Vick arrived.
Refusing to believe her brand-new husband had abandoned her, Eva set about tracking down a man who, she now believed, was more damaged by wartime trauma than she had known. But instead of a wounded hero, she found a long string of women much like herself—hard-working, intelligent women who had loved and married Vick and now had no idea where—or even who—he was.
Drawing on a trove of some eight hundred letters and papers, Diane Simmons tells the story of Eva’s poignant struggle to get her dream husband back, as well as the stories of the women who had stood at the altar with Vick before and after her. Eva’s remarkable life illuminates women’s struggle for happiness at a time when marriage—and the perfect husband—meant everything.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2016
3 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Diane Simmons
22 books21 followersDiane Simmons' novel Dreams Like Thunder, set on a farm in Eastern Oregon at the end of the Frontier, won the Oregon Book Award. Her short story collection, Little America, about life on the road in the West, won the Ohio State University Prize for Short Fiction. Her story, "Yukon River," was runner-up for the Missouri Review Editor's Prize. Short stories have appeared in Fiction Magazine, Northwest Review, Missouri Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, Drunken Boat
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September 22, 2016
When she is made executor to the estate of family friend Eva Eldridge, the author comes into possession of a large collection of letters which Eva has carefully bundled up and stored away. Kept with such conscientious orderliness, the letters and check stubs and notes scribbled on the backs of envelopes form a personal archive, and one gets the feeling that Eva, who never spoke to Simmons about the deep mysteries of her life, had saved these letters, purposely, so that one day someone might make sense of her life.
Eva’s story begins in 1958, when she is working in a cigar stand in the swanky Hotel Boise. She is slim and attractive, and glamorous in the way that women of that era seemed to be: her long hair is swept into a roll at the back of her head, her dress is nipped in at the waist to accentuate her figure, and ‘open-toe, open-back high heels’ add to her statuesque beauty. She is also ‘deeply, deeply in love’ with Vick, ‘the hotel’s handsome new chef’ to whom she has been married for almost a year. At thirty-five, Eva knows she is lucky to have found Vick when she did. She’s not getting any younger, after all, and ‘as anyone who goes to the movies is constantly reminded, being single in the 1950s is a terrifying experience.’ When Eva arrives home one night to find Vick gone, along with their brand new car, she – and Simmons – set about trying to track him down.
In many respects, The Courtship of Eva Eldridge reads like a novel. Part 1 shifts back and forth in time, between Eva’s years of independence and adventure in a wartime shipyard on the Oregon coast and her life in Boise, with and without Vick, a decade-and-a-half later. Each chapter reveals a piece of her story, highlighting her complicated history with men, along with her family’s and society’s assumptions and expectations.
In Part 2, Simmons’ detective skills really come into play as the extent of Vick’s deception – and his serial bigamy – becomes apparent. Having read between the lines of Eva’s letters and winkled out clues to her relationship with Vick, Simmons travels the country, tracking down witnesses and enlisting expert help to explore possible explanations for Vick’s bizarre behaviour. Was he in fact suffering from PTSD as Eva suspected; was he a psychopath, without empathy for his victims or remorse for his crimes; or was he simply a con artist, taking advantage of vulnerable women who were afraid of growing old alone?
Coming from the same arid landscape as Eva, between the Cascade mountains and the Snake River basin, Simmons imbues Eva’s story with an authentic sense of place. The book also gives the occasional aside to reveal snippets from Simmons’ own eventful life where it unexpectedly crosses with Eva’s: during Simmons’ ‘hippie period’, she briefly worked as a waitress in the café where Vick curiously cashed all those five and ten-dollar checks whose stubs she would later find.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is genuinely engaging on a number of levels thanks to Simmons’ scrupulous research. As a biography, it documents key moments in the lives of Eva and Vick and builds a well-developed picture of two quite extraordinary individuals. As a social history, it examines an era which we think we know and reminds us of what the women of Eva’s generation did and did not achieve. It is as psychological investigation, however, that the book really stands out. Simmons digs and digs until she exhausts every clue and at last reaches well-considered explanations for Vick’s – and Eva’s – astonishing behaviour.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge explores the deep complexities of identity and the human psyche, and ultimately it makes us question how well we can ever really know another human being.
Eva’s story begins in 1958, when she is working in a cigar stand in the swanky Hotel Boise. She is slim and attractive, and glamorous in the way that women of that era seemed to be: her long hair is swept into a roll at the back of her head, her dress is nipped in at the waist to accentuate her figure, and ‘open-toe, open-back high heels’ add to her statuesque beauty. She is also ‘deeply, deeply in love’ with Vick, ‘the hotel’s handsome new chef’ to whom she has been married for almost a year. At thirty-five, Eva knows she is lucky to have found Vick when she did. She’s not getting any younger, after all, and ‘as anyone who goes to the movies is constantly reminded, being single in the 1950s is a terrifying experience.’ When Eva arrives home one night to find Vick gone, along with their brand new car, she – and Simmons – set about trying to track him down.
In many respects, The Courtship of Eva Eldridge reads like a novel. Part 1 shifts back and forth in time, between Eva’s years of independence and adventure in a wartime shipyard on the Oregon coast and her life in Boise, with and without Vick, a decade-and-a-half later. Each chapter reveals a piece of her story, highlighting her complicated history with men, along with her family’s and society’s assumptions and expectations.
In Part 2, Simmons’ detective skills really come into play as the extent of Vick’s deception – and his serial bigamy – becomes apparent. Having read between the lines of Eva’s letters and winkled out clues to her relationship with Vick, Simmons travels the country, tracking down witnesses and enlisting expert help to explore possible explanations for Vick’s bizarre behaviour. Was he in fact suffering from PTSD as Eva suspected; was he a psychopath, without empathy for his victims or remorse for his crimes; or was he simply a con artist, taking advantage of vulnerable women who were afraid of growing old alone?
Coming from the same arid landscape as Eva, between the Cascade mountains and the Snake River basin, Simmons imbues Eva’s story with an authentic sense of place. The book also gives the occasional aside to reveal snippets from Simmons’ own eventful life where it unexpectedly crosses with Eva’s: during Simmons’ ‘hippie period’, she briefly worked as a waitress in the café where Vick curiously cashed all those five and ten-dollar checks whose stubs she would later find.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is genuinely engaging on a number of levels thanks to Simmons’ scrupulous research. As a biography, it documents key moments in the lives of Eva and Vick and builds a well-developed picture of two quite extraordinary individuals. As a social history, it examines an era which we think we know and reminds us of what the women of Eva’s generation did and did not achieve. It is as psychological investigation, however, that the book really stands out. Simmons digs and digs until she exhausts every clue and at last reaches well-considered explanations for Vick’s – and Eva’s – astonishing behaviour.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge explores the deep complexities of identity and the human psyche, and ultimately it makes us question how well we can ever really know another human being.
April 13, 2025
✨A U D I O B O O K R E V I E W✨
Thank you #partners @tlcbooktours @uiowapress for my ALC.
This was fascinating. The idea of bigamists is so odd. I don’t understand why a person wouldn’t just either divorce the first (or eighth) spouse or just not get married.
In the 40s and 50s people got married SO young, except of course Eva who was considered an old maid at 35. I really enjoyed the history of women in wartime work and learning about that aspect of Eva’s life. The second half of the book just seemed a bit too all over the place. I know it’s meant to explain Vick’s story and how each of the wives were affected but then maybe it should’ve been named for him instead of Eva as her part basically drops off. Nonetheless, it was informative and intriguing.
The audio was ok. The narrator’s breathy voice lulled me at times but it definitely fit the tone of fifties women.
Thank you #partners @tlcbooktours @uiowapress for my ALC.
This was fascinating. The idea of bigamists is so odd. I don’t understand why a person wouldn’t just either divorce the first (or eighth) spouse or just not get married.
In the 40s and 50s people got married SO young, except of course Eva who was considered an old maid at 35. I really enjoyed the history of women in wartime work and learning about that aspect of Eva’s life. The second half of the book just seemed a bit too all over the place. I know it’s meant to explain Vick’s story and how each of the wives were affected but then maybe it should’ve been named for him instead of Eva as her part basically drops off. Nonetheless, it was informative and intriguing.
The audio was ok. The narrator’s breathy voice lulled me at times but it definitely fit the tone of fifties women.
May 3, 2016
Author Diane Simmons does a knockout job telling the story of family friend Eva Eldridge, as well as the story of countless women of Ms. Eldridge’s generation. These were young women who were going to marry their childhood sweethearts, and live a life exactly like their parents. But the sweethearts ended up going to war and the women ended up going to work. When the war ended and the men came home, many women were quite happy to leave their jobs, and become the wives and mothers they always expected to be.
Others like Eva Eldridge, however, kept putting off going back to the farm and their old way of life. She liked working, making money, going out at night and living on her own. Nevertheless, the pressures to get married in the 1940s and 1950s were so great, Ms. Eldridge marries; not her childhood sweetheart, who came back from the war with severe psychological problems, but another young man who was an alcoholic. Little is told about that marriage, and it seems like a big hole in the story, too. Later, as a divorcee in her thirties, she would remarry a seemingly loving, charming man named Vick; who was in reality a guy who married a woman, stayed around for a short while, and then just drove away one day.
Yes, Vick was a bigamist, and Ms. Simmons goes on to explore his life and bigamy in general. That’s where the story actually becomes much less interesting. Mentally, morally deficient individuals like Vick just aren’t that interesting. While the author brings up various theories about why he did what he did, and consults various professionals about the matter, ultimately he was seen as someone who would always be like he was, for whatever the reason, and would never change. Thus, who cares?
Eva Eldridge apparently cared and even wanted to get back with him, even though she was one of many abandoned wives. Ms. Simmons explored that matter, too. That was much more intriguing. Why do women fall for such con men? Why would an intelligent woman, like Ms. Eldridge, want to get back with such a man, when she knew he was a serial bigamist? Again, the author presents various theories. Possibly she should have spent more time on the theory of not wanting to be a mother. Eva Eldridge obviously did not want to be a mother and Vick obviously was not father material. Any woman of her generation who did not want children was often seen as some type of ogress, something even far stranger than a woman who did not want to get married. (Unless, of course, the woman entered a convent.) With Vick, there would be no pressure to have a baby, and no guilt about giving up the one she gave up years earlier, since Vick never saw or supported his own children.
Diane Simmons does do a good job examining the roles of women in the 1940s and 1950s, and the expectations society had for them. They may have been needed to replace men in the workforce during the war, but they were expected to return to the home and kitchen once the war was over. They were expected to be wives and mothers with no ambitions of their own. They were there to support their husbands and raise their children. Women, such as Eva Eldridge, not only had to deal with the expectations of society, but also the expectations of their families, particularly their own mothers . . . mothers they did not want to end up like. This is really not so much a story of bigamy, but a story of a time when women had limited life choices, and how those limited choices often led to bad choices. It’s a somewhat sad story, but a good, highly readable and highly recommended one.
(Note: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.)
Others like Eva Eldridge, however, kept putting off going back to the farm and their old way of life. She liked working, making money, going out at night and living on her own. Nevertheless, the pressures to get married in the 1940s and 1950s were so great, Ms. Eldridge marries; not her childhood sweetheart, who came back from the war with severe psychological problems, but another young man who was an alcoholic. Little is told about that marriage, and it seems like a big hole in the story, too. Later, as a divorcee in her thirties, she would remarry a seemingly loving, charming man named Vick; who was in reality a guy who married a woman, stayed around for a short while, and then just drove away one day.
Yes, Vick was a bigamist, and Ms. Simmons goes on to explore his life and bigamy in general. That’s where the story actually becomes much less interesting. Mentally, morally deficient individuals like Vick just aren’t that interesting. While the author brings up various theories about why he did what he did, and consults various professionals about the matter, ultimately he was seen as someone who would always be like he was, for whatever the reason, and would never change. Thus, who cares?
Eva Eldridge apparently cared and even wanted to get back with him, even though she was one of many abandoned wives. Ms. Simmons explored that matter, too. That was much more intriguing. Why do women fall for such con men? Why would an intelligent woman, like Ms. Eldridge, want to get back with such a man, when she knew he was a serial bigamist? Again, the author presents various theories. Possibly she should have spent more time on the theory of not wanting to be a mother. Eva Eldridge obviously did not want to be a mother and Vick obviously was not father material. Any woman of her generation who did not want children was often seen as some type of ogress, something even far stranger than a woman who did not want to get married. (Unless, of course, the woman entered a convent.) With Vick, there would be no pressure to have a baby, and no guilt about giving up the one she gave up years earlier, since Vick never saw or supported his own children.
Diane Simmons does do a good job examining the roles of women in the 1940s and 1950s, and the expectations society had for them. They may have been needed to replace men in the workforce during the war, but they were expected to return to the home and kitchen once the war was over. They were expected to be wives and mothers with no ambitions of their own. They were there to support their husbands and raise their children. Women, such as Eva Eldridge, not only had to deal with the expectations of society, but also the expectations of their families, particularly their own mothers . . . mothers they did not want to end up like. This is really not so much a story of bigamy, but a story of a time when women had limited life choices, and how those limited choices often led to bad choices. It’s a somewhat sad story, but a good, highly readable and highly recommended one.
(Note: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.)
August 15, 2016
Unlike the title character who still thinks her husband loves only her, I felt conned by this book. Yes, it was the story of Eva and how she was romanced by a bigamist. But there was so much extraneous information about the war, about her relatives, about everything, that it felt like perhaps Ms. Simmons didn't have enough to stay focused on her subject. If perhaps the idea was that all of these things combined together to set Eva up for the fall, then maybe it would have been good to state that plainly at some point. Instead, I got the impression that it was solely Vick and his devotion that fooled Eva. So why was the rest of that included? Was this actually a book about the life of Eva and her marriage to Vick was a part? Then the title is way off. I also did not think the book conveyed how Eva felt. Statements like "Eva may have....." or "at this point Eva probably...." seemed to dampen any feelings being shown. Ms. Simmons knew Eva personally and had access to her correspondence. I feel like she should have been able to make more qualified statements. Additionally, the booked bounced around the timeline and with all the moving parts, that made it a bit difficult to follow. So while Eva and her life were interesting and the extra historical information about everything else was interesting, I feel like the book wasn't really sure what it wanted to be about.
A preview copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and University of Iowa Press in exchange for an honest review.
A preview copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and University of Iowa Press in exchange for an honest review.
February 8, 2017
Diane Simmons does a wonderful job with the treasure trove of letters that she discovered. The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is not just the story of one woman and her bigamist husband but the history of an era. The writing is thoughtful and accessible. The story is compelling. Simmons brings insight to the years of an early and unexamined women's movement when their help was sought during the war. Eva Eldridge is both a hero of womanhood and its sacrifice. The engaging narrative that Simmons weaves tells us how.
February 3, 2025
This was a wild and fascinating listen, especially considering the social shifts and changes over the last decades. The author used hundreds of papers and letters to help tell Eva’s authentic story. This book really opens to your eyes to how things have changed for women in America and is an important peek into how societal norms shape our lives.
The cadence of the audiobook narrator was a tad distracting as it seems she more read the book as opposed to narrating a story. Overall a solid listen.
Thank you to @tlcbooktours, University Of Iowa Press, and the author for the gifted audiobook.
The cadence of the audiobook narrator was a tad distracting as it seems she more read the book as opposed to narrating a story. Overall a solid listen.
Thank you to @tlcbooktours, University Of Iowa Press, and the author for the gifted audiobook.
November 1, 2016
Reading The Courtship of Eva Eldridge was like watching a Western Noir. Eva becomes the dark heroine as she heeds the call of the War World II propaganda machine and leaves the family farm in arid eastern Oregon for the steamy ship building yards of Portland. She works hard during the day, flirts with sailors, and stays out late at night. She’s a looker in her tight sweaters, bullet bras, and high heels and likes to have fun. She’s fully bought into the War-time message that women are needed, desired, and rewarded in the workplace. But then the War ends and the ship yards close and the propaganda machine changes its tune. Suddenly, maybe it isn’t such a great idea for women to work. Men need jobs. Women need to stay home, mind the kids, cook meals, and polish the kitchen to a holy shine. Marriage is the new normal. To remain single is an oddity, maybe a sign of psychological imbalance.
Eva isn’t immune to these 1950’s social mores, but she embraces them grudgingly. She’s better suited to the single, independent life of a working woman in a big city. Of course, throughout the War she’s patriotic and corresponds with a hometown boy, Dave, who serves in brutal battles, but she puts off the idea of returning home to marry him. Besides, Dave is a basket case of PTSD by the time he gets back to the US. Eventually, she instead marries Jimmy, another soldier but also an alcoholic. Divorce soon follows. Eva settles in Boise, Idaho, where she becomes the cigarette girl in the lobby of the fancy Boise Hotel. She lives alone in a tiny basement flat. She still likes to flirt and go out at night. Why not? Of course, it would be nice to have a man… And then the perfect one comes along: Virgil (“Vic”) Vickers. Vic has also been a soldier, a veteran of both Canadian and American military units. He’s Eva’s match in urban looks: slicked back hair, shiny shoes, socks with clocks on them, and fine shirts and slacks. And new cars. Vic really likes new cars. He also likes marriages. Why wouldn’t he? He’s a bigamist. This is perhaps the greatest noir aspect of the book, and Vic, the perfect villain. The bigamy of Vic is an ironic reversal of 1950’s gender roles and obsession with marriage. He embraces marriage to a far greater degree than most women of the time did. By the end of the book he’s racked up ten marriages. Eva marries a few times, too, but unlike bigamous Vic, she divorces one husband before marrying the next.
What drives Vic, besides societal demands about marriage? Does he suffer post-traumatic shock from the War? Has he figured out how to finance a low-level Playboy life-style, in which a train of bigamous marriages gives him a little walking around money and perhaps a new car? Is he a psychopath?
And what about Eva? Why does she think she’s found her soul mate in Vic as she tries to follow the script of the time, which reads that single women are losers, or worse. Eva’s own psychological foibles make her susceptible to a man like Vic. She believes their marriage is the only “real” one Vic has had, despite his history of bigamy. Eva holds out hope as other wives come forward and throughout Vic’s trial, conviction, imprisonment, and probation. She doesn’t give him up until a dying mother brings her home. She later marries a good man, that is, one who isn’t an alcoholic or a bigamist, and lives with him until he dies.
Ms. Simmons tells the story of Eva and Vic layer by layer as though she’s peeling an onion. Her writing is fascinating not only because she shows the role of social mores in determining the fate of one woman and one man but also because of the vast amount of research that underlies the narrative. Ms. Simmons starts with a box of letters, documents, and photographs and through hard-boiled detective work—hours of searching on the internet, sifting through and requesting government and military documents, tracking down relatives and ex-wives and their descendants, visiting places where Eva and Vic worked and lived, and interviewing experts—she builds her case: the dark mid-20th century script about women and marriage led to unhappiness and impoverishment that took women the rest of their lives to recover from, if they ever did. The Courtship of Eva is the perfect companion to this season’s presidential campaign, in which society’s views of women and what men think they can get away with have exploded on the front page.
Eva isn’t immune to these 1950’s social mores, but she embraces them grudgingly. She’s better suited to the single, independent life of a working woman in a big city. Of course, throughout the War she’s patriotic and corresponds with a hometown boy, Dave, who serves in brutal battles, but she puts off the idea of returning home to marry him. Besides, Dave is a basket case of PTSD by the time he gets back to the US. Eventually, she instead marries Jimmy, another soldier but also an alcoholic. Divorce soon follows. Eva settles in Boise, Idaho, where she becomes the cigarette girl in the lobby of the fancy Boise Hotel. She lives alone in a tiny basement flat. She still likes to flirt and go out at night. Why not? Of course, it would be nice to have a man… And then the perfect one comes along: Virgil (“Vic”) Vickers. Vic has also been a soldier, a veteran of both Canadian and American military units. He’s Eva’s match in urban looks: slicked back hair, shiny shoes, socks with clocks on them, and fine shirts and slacks. And new cars. Vic really likes new cars. He also likes marriages. Why wouldn’t he? He’s a bigamist. This is perhaps the greatest noir aspect of the book, and Vic, the perfect villain. The bigamy of Vic is an ironic reversal of 1950’s gender roles and obsession with marriage. He embraces marriage to a far greater degree than most women of the time did. By the end of the book he’s racked up ten marriages. Eva marries a few times, too, but unlike bigamous Vic, she divorces one husband before marrying the next.
What drives Vic, besides societal demands about marriage? Does he suffer post-traumatic shock from the War? Has he figured out how to finance a low-level Playboy life-style, in which a train of bigamous marriages gives him a little walking around money and perhaps a new car? Is he a psychopath?
And what about Eva? Why does she think she’s found her soul mate in Vic as she tries to follow the script of the time, which reads that single women are losers, or worse. Eva’s own psychological foibles make her susceptible to a man like Vic. She believes their marriage is the only “real” one Vic has had, despite his history of bigamy. Eva holds out hope as other wives come forward and throughout Vic’s trial, conviction, imprisonment, and probation. She doesn’t give him up until a dying mother brings her home. She later marries a good man, that is, one who isn’t an alcoholic or a bigamist, and lives with him until he dies.
Ms. Simmons tells the story of Eva and Vic layer by layer as though she’s peeling an onion. Her writing is fascinating not only because she shows the role of social mores in determining the fate of one woman and one man but also because of the vast amount of research that underlies the narrative. Ms. Simmons starts with a box of letters, documents, and photographs and through hard-boiled detective work—hours of searching on the internet, sifting through and requesting government and military documents, tracking down relatives and ex-wives and their descendants, visiting places where Eva and Vic worked and lived, and interviewing experts—she builds her case: the dark mid-20th century script about women and marriage led to unhappiness and impoverishment that took women the rest of their lives to recover from, if they ever did. The Courtship of Eva is the perfect companion to this season’s presidential campaign, in which society’s views of women and what men think they can get away with have exploded on the front page.
March 10, 2017
When Diane Simmons first came into possession of a trove of some eight hundred letters—“collected into fat packets and tied with loops of tightly knotted kitchen string”—hidden away in an Eastern Oregon attic, something held her back from opening them and prying into their secrets, “something that felt a lot like fear.” However, the woman who had saved the letters, a woman Simmons had known since childhood, had died, and named Simmons executor of her estate. Why had she saved them all these years if not to be found someday and their remarkable story told?
This is the dramatic introduction to The Courtship of Eva Eldridge, the story not just of one woman’s quest for love, but also of an era. The subtitle calls it, A Story of Bigamy in the Marriage-Mad Fifties. Simmons begins the story in March 1958, in Boise, when Eva is thirty-five and her dreamboat husband Vick disappears after a year of seemingly blissful marriage. Moving back and forth in time, we follow Eva’s evolution from a simple farm girl through her war years as a single working woman in the shipbuilding boomtown of Portland, Oregon, then a failed postwar marriage, to her life as a glamorous cigarette girl in a posh hotel in Boise where she meets and marries Vick. Through the lens of Eva’s life, Simmons reflects on the changing roles of women: from wife and homemaker to wage-earner and back again, as women were thrown out of the work force after World War II to make room for the returning veterans. We see the role the media plays—first calling women into performing men’s civilian work during the war as a service to their country, and then promoting marriage and home as the only suitable job for women after the war. The history is personalized as Simmons occasionally injects the perspective of herself as a young girl who knew and admired Eva, twenty-five years her senior. Thus, the first half of the book is a lively interweaving of points of view.
Part 2 opens with another bombshell that begins to solve the mystery that has tantalized us so far: where did Vick go? A year after Vick disappears, Eva receives a twelve-page letter from a woman named Odette, who met and married Vick after he left Eva. Then he left Odette. So she started to track down his earlier wives, all of whom he’d abandoned after short marriages with no explanation. Eva and Odette collaborate in the search through letters and phone calls. Decades later, Simmons herself joins the search, using the Internet and email. She locates and communicates with surviving wives, children, and others who remember Vick. All told, she discovers ten wives. And she asks another question: why?
There’s no easy answer to that. Simmons’s explanation for Vick’s motivation ties in with her theme of “the marriage-mad Fifties”—Vick loved weddings, from the excitement of the courtship through the pageantry of the ceremony to the romance of the honeymoon. Once that was over, he drove off in a shiny new car in search of another bride.
Vick’s surprise reappearance in Eva’s life leads to a satisfying denouement, which I will not give away. Toward the end of the book, Simmons reflects that Eva, like Simmons’s own generation, “came of age in a world turned upside down, one in which her parents’ beliefs seemed only dimly relevant and that—right or wrong—she too had tried to follow her heart.”
If at times the complexity of the cast of characters and skipping around in time causes the reader’s head to spin, Simmons never loses us. We can be glad that Eva’s letters and story fell into the hands of a gifted story-teller with a keen eye for social analysis and deep empathy for her subject.
This is the dramatic introduction to The Courtship of Eva Eldridge, the story not just of one woman’s quest for love, but also of an era. The subtitle calls it, A Story of Bigamy in the Marriage-Mad Fifties. Simmons begins the story in March 1958, in Boise, when Eva is thirty-five and her dreamboat husband Vick disappears after a year of seemingly blissful marriage. Moving back and forth in time, we follow Eva’s evolution from a simple farm girl through her war years as a single working woman in the shipbuilding boomtown of Portland, Oregon, then a failed postwar marriage, to her life as a glamorous cigarette girl in a posh hotel in Boise where she meets and marries Vick. Through the lens of Eva’s life, Simmons reflects on the changing roles of women: from wife and homemaker to wage-earner and back again, as women were thrown out of the work force after World War II to make room for the returning veterans. We see the role the media plays—first calling women into performing men’s civilian work during the war as a service to their country, and then promoting marriage and home as the only suitable job for women after the war. The history is personalized as Simmons occasionally injects the perspective of herself as a young girl who knew and admired Eva, twenty-five years her senior. Thus, the first half of the book is a lively interweaving of points of view.
Part 2 opens with another bombshell that begins to solve the mystery that has tantalized us so far: where did Vick go? A year after Vick disappears, Eva receives a twelve-page letter from a woman named Odette, who met and married Vick after he left Eva. Then he left Odette. So she started to track down his earlier wives, all of whom he’d abandoned after short marriages with no explanation. Eva and Odette collaborate in the search through letters and phone calls. Decades later, Simmons herself joins the search, using the Internet and email. She locates and communicates with surviving wives, children, and others who remember Vick. All told, she discovers ten wives. And she asks another question: why?
There’s no easy answer to that. Simmons’s explanation for Vick’s motivation ties in with her theme of “the marriage-mad Fifties”—Vick loved weddings, from the excitement of the courtship through the pageantry of the ceremony to the romance of the honeymoon. Once that was over, he drove off in a shiny new car in search of another bride.
Vick’s surprise reappearance in Eva’s life leads to a satisfying denouement, which I will not give away. Toward the end of the book, Simmons reflects that Eva, like Simmons’s own generation, “came of age in a world turned upside down, one in which her parents’ beliefs seemed only dimly relevant and that—right or wrong—she too had tried to follow her heart.”
If at times the complexity of the cast of characters and skipping around in time causes the reader’s head to spin, Simmons never loses us. We can be glad that Eva’s letters and story fell into the hands of a gifted story-teller with a keen eye for social analysis and deep empathy for her subject.
May 14, 2017
....I’ve been reading a fine book about a woman of that era, Diana Simmons’ The Courtship of Eva Eldridge: A Story of Bigamy in the Marriage-Mad Fifties. Published by the University of Iowa Press, the book came about because of a legacy – not of her own mother, but of a mother nonetheless. “This is a true story based entirely on some eight hundred letters and other primary documents, on site visits and interviews, and on archival and library research….the names of people and places—mostly small towns—have sometimes been changed, and in a few instances the nature of relationships has been altered slightly.”
It is a story of detection, the kind of laborious work that most detective work is, done not with guns blazing but in the dusty basement record rooms, tracing down those who are lost or who have chosen to lose themselves. Simmons writes journalistically - and I mean that as high praise, being a former journalist. Her prose is lively, specific, clear and clean. The story bounces back and forth between 1940 and 1963 – only a few years, yet they marked an epochal change in America for men who went to war and returned, and for the women who tasted a different kind of life as well, and abandoned it willingly or not for a return to the dream of domesticity.
“After World War II, Americans spent a great deal of imagination and energy creating a fantasy. It was a fantasy that embodied all they had dreamed of during the privation, loss, and upheaval of Depression and war, a vision so strong that it took on a doctrinaire quality. Everyone had to have the storybook romance and marriage; everyone needed the glowing home, where a loving husband made a lucky woman joyously happy,” she writes.
Not only Eva, who fell for the serial bigamist Vick, but Vick himself who “spent much of his own imagination and energy inserting himself into this fantasy.” Like the plastic groom atop the three-tiered white cake, perfect and brittle – no more than a symbol – this fantasy was held up as life one should aspire to. Bride and groom, side by side, she in white and he in black, locked forever in a formal aspect. Always facing the same direction. “And Eva? Certainly she bought the romance part of the fantasy, clinging ferociously to the idea of the movie-star-handsome lover who adored her and wanted only her forever. Certainly too, she wanted to be married, to be safe and respectable,” Simmons writes....
(This review is part of a larger essay/review at my blog, Valerie Nieman 3.0., http://valerienieman.blogspot.com/)
It is a story of detection, the kind of laborious work that most detective work is, done not with guns blazing but in the dusty basement record rooms, tracing down those who are lost or who have chosen to lose themselves. Simmons writes journalistically - and I mean that as high praise, being a former journalist. Her prose is lively, specific, clear and clean. The story bounces back and forth between 1940 and 1963 – only a few years, yet they marked an epochal change in America for men who went to war and returned, and for the women who tasted a different kind of life as well, and abandoned it willingly or not for a return to the dream of domesticity.
“After World War II, Americans spent a great deal of imagination and energy creating a fantasy. It was a fantasy that embodied all they had dreamed of during the privation, loss, and upheaval of Depression and war, a vision so strong that it took on a doctrinaire quality. Everyone had to have the storybook romance and marriage; everyone needed the glowing home, where a loving husband made a lucky woman joyously happy,” she writes.
Not only Eva, who fell for the serial bigamist Vick, but Vick himself who “spent much of his own imagination and energy inserting himself into this fantasy.” Like the plastic groom atop the three-tiered white cake, perfect and brittle – no more than a symbol – this fantasy was held up as life one should aspire to. Bride and groom, side by side, she in white and he in black, locked forever in a formal aspect. Always facing the same direction. “And Eva? Certainly she bought the romance part of the fantasy, clinging ferociously to the idea of the movie-star-handsome lover who adored her and wanted only her forever. Certainly too, she wanted to be married, to be safe and respectable,” Simmons writes....
(This review is part of a larger essay/review at my blog, Valerie Nieman 3.0., http://valerienieman.blogspot.com/)
November 13, 2019
This was definitely a 4.5. I loved that the author knew Eva, and the book felt personal when reading it. I like how she jumped around from the 40's, 50's and 60's, along with her childhood before WWII. This made the book interesting and it flowed well. I may have started to lose interest if it was told chronologically, but jumping around kept things moving and helped me keep track of all the "characters". I especially loved that she spent a great deal of her life in Portland, my hometown, and loved the parts about her working in the shipyards during the war. At times I did feel a little like I was peeping on someone else's life, the same way I feel when watching reality TV. 😬 But the story was so fascinating that I kept peeping.
October 27, 2016
I love this wonderful nonfiction book THE COURTSHIP OF EVA ELDRIDGE, where author Diane Simmons explores not only one woman's strange experience with marriage but also a world "turned upside down, one in which her parents' beliefs seemed only dimly relevant and that—right or wrong—she too had tried to follow her heart."
Set during the second world war when women were encouraged--even propagandized--to go to work in war industry, and then afterward, when the propaganda told them to go home and take care of their men, it covers the rich excitement and confusion of the times with ease and panache--and a darn good story.
Set during the second world war when women were encouraged--even propagandized--to go to work in war industry, and then afterward, when the propaganda told them to go home and take care of their men, it covers the rich excitement and confusion of the times with ease and panache--and a darn good story.
March 11, 2017
It's a well written and researched book, following the story of one woman who ended up married to a bigamist with at least 7 wives. What I found especiallly fascinating was the detailed description of women's lives and roles before, during, and after WWII.
March 1, 2020
I love The Courtship of Eva Eldridge: A Story of Bigamy in the Marriage-Mad Fifties. It’s incredibly well written and exciting. I was hooked by the introduction, and stayed hooked to the end. It’s categorized as True Crime and Women’s Studies, but it crosses a number of other genre boundaries as well.
It’s a social history of women—and to a lesser degree, of men—during the 1940s and ‘50s. We see women becoming aware of their place as well as their worth during the Second World War and its aftermath. We see the magazines of the day pressuring women to work for the war effort, pressuring them to marry service men and to make them feel appreciated. Then when the war ends, these same magazines pressure women to leave their jobs for returning soldiers. After all, a woman’s place is in the home. And though their war-hero husbands are often angry and difficult to deal with, women are reminded to be considerate of what their men may have experienced “overseas.” As a baby boomer, I found it helpful as I look back over my childhood and try to make sense of my parents.
It’s a psychological drama about Eva Eldridge and Virgil “Vick” Vickers, a man who marries women, grows tired of them, leaves them, and without divorcing them, marries again. Though Vick left Eva without a word of warning, and saddled her with the payments for a brand new Mercury in which he drove off, she never stopped loving him, never stopped trying to find him. Simmons digs into the character of both Eva and Vick, attempting to answer the riddle of why. For Vick, she does this largely through his letters, but she is also successful in finding some of the women he married—even his children—and gets them to open up about him.
Simmons has an easier job finding information about Eva. The fact is, this book is also a memoir: Eva was the adult daughter of Ms. Simmons’ neighbor in the small farming town in Eastern Oregon where Simmons grew up. She was the flower girl at Eva’s wedding to Vick. As a young child, Ms. Simmons sometimes traveled with Grace, Eva’s mom, to visit Eva. She kept in touch with Eva right to the end, even visiting her on her death bed. Eva left behind a trunk full of letters that were carefully tied together in bundles as if she was hoping her story would one day be told.
But more than anything, this book reads like a detective novel. At all points, Ms. Simmons keeps us apprised of what her next step will be in putting together the multiple puzzles that were Eva’s and Vick’s lives.
I rarely open non-fiction books, and when I do, I just about never finish them. But once I picked this book up, I couldn’t put it down.
It’s a social history of women—and to a lesser degree, of men—during the 1940s and ‘50s. We see women becoming aware of their place as well as their worth during the Second World War and its aftermath. We see the magazines of the day pressuring women to work for the war effort, pressuring them to marry service men and to make them feel appreciated. Then when the war ends, these same magazines pressure women to leave their jobs for returning soldiers. After all, a woman’s place is in the home. And though their war-hero husbands are often angry and difficult to deal with, women are reminded to be considerate of what their men may have experienced “overseas.” As a baby boomer, I found it helpful as I look back over my childhood and try to make sense of my parents.
It’s a psychological drama about Eva Eldridge and Virgil “Vick” Vickers, a man who marries women, grows tired of them, leaves them, and without divorcing them, marries again. Though Vick left Eva without a word of warning, and saddled her with the payments for a brand new Mercury in which he drove off, she never stopped loving him, never stopped trying to find him. Simmons digs into the character of both Eva and Vick, attempting to answer the riddle of why. For Vick, she does this largely through his letters, but she is also successful in finding some of the women he married—even his children—and gets them to open up about him.
Simmons has an easier job finding information about Eva. The fact is, this book is also a memoir: Eva was the adult daughter of Ms. Simmons’ neighbor in the small farming town in Eastern Oregon where Simmons grew up. She was the flower girl at Eva’s wedding to Vick. As a young child, Ms. Simmons sometimes traveled with Grace, Eva’s mom, to visit Eva. She kept in touch with Eva right to the end, even visiting her on her death bed. Eva left behind a trunk full of letters that were carefully tied together in bundles as if she was hoping her story would one day be told.
But more than anything, this book reads like a detective novel. At all points, Ms. Simmons keeps us apprised of what her next step will be in putting together the multiple puzzles that were Eva’s and Vick’s lives.
I rarely open non-fiction books, and when I do, I just about never finish them. But once I picked this book up, I couldn’t put it down.
Read
June 9, 2025From Victor Dima - The Audio Book Blog
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is the kind of audiobook that stays with you long after it’s over. Diane Simmons takes a real-life story and turns it into an immersive journey through the 1950s – a time when marriage was seen as the be-all and end-all for women. Eva Eldridge’s life, full of love, betrayal, and heartbreak, reflects the weight of those expectations in a society obsessed with the ideal of marriage. Simmons’ writing stands out because she effortlessly draws you into Eva’s personal drama while also making you think about the bigger societal issues at play.
Kimberly Conwell’s narration is great! You feel like you’re walking alongside Eva, experiencing her highs and lows. Conwell doesn’t just tell Eva’s story, she brings out the emotion in every moment without overplaying it, which makes the whole experience feel so much more intimate and real. Her voice carries both the vulnerability and strength in Eva’s character, and that balance really resonated with me. It’s the kind of performance that makes you forget you’re listening to an audiobook – you’re just living the story.
One of the things I appreciated most about The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is how Simmons uses Eva’s life to touch on broader themes that still feel relevant today. You can sense the pressure on Eva to conform to what society expected of her, and the consequences of stepping outside those lines. Diane Simmons handles this with so much empathy, never casting judgment on Eva or the women of her time, but instead giving us a nuanced look at the impossible choices they faced.
The audiobook format really elevates the whole experience. Kimberly Conwell’s narration brings depth to the historical context, making it easier to connect with Eva’s personal struggles while also understanding the larger societal pressures.
If you enjoy stories that blend personal drama with historical insight, The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is a must-listen. It’s a deeply human story about a woman trying to find her way in a world that expected her to fit a mold. It left me thinking about how far we’ve come, and how stories like Eva’s still resonate today.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is the kind of audiobook that stays with you long after it’s over. Diane Simmons takes a real-life story and turns it into an immersive journey through the 1950s – a time when marriage was seen as the be-all and end-all for women. Eva Eldridge’s life, full of love, betrayal, and heartbreak, reflects the weight of those expectations in a society obsessed with the ideal of marriage. Simmons’ writing stands out because she effortlessly draws you into Eva’s personal drama while also making you think about the bigger societal issues at play.
Kimberly Conwell’s narration is great! You feel like you’re walking alongside Eva, experiencing her highs and lows. Conwell doesn’t just tell Eva’s story, she brings out the emotion in every moment without overplaying it, which makes the whole experience feel so much more intimate and real. Her voice carries both the vulnerability and strength in Eva’s character, and that balance really resonated with me. It’s the kind of performance that makes you forget you’re listening to an audiobook – you’re just living the story.
One of the things I appreciated most about The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is how Simmons uses Eva’s life to touch on broader themes that still feel relevant today. You can sense the pressure on Eva to conform to what society expected of her, and the consequences of stepping outside those lines. Diane Simmons handles this with so much empathy, never casting judgment on Eva or the women of her time, but instead giving us a nuanced look at the impossible choices they faced.
The audiobook format really elevates the whole experience. Kimberly Conwell’s narration brings depth to the historical context, making it easier to connect with Eva’s personal struggles while also understanding the larger societal pressures.
If you enjoy stories that blend personal drama with historical insight, The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is a must-listen. It’s a deeply human story about a woman trying to find her way in a world that expected her to fit a mold. It left me thinking about how far we’ve come, and how stories like Eva’s still resonate today.
March 19, 2025
(2.5⭐️) When Diane Simmons inherits bric-a-brac from family friend, Eva Eldridge, she discovers a treasure trove of information regarding the societal changes women underwent during the WW2/post war era as well as a fascinating story of bigamy in the 1950s.
The first half of the book focused on Eva leaving the family farm to serve in the women’s war effort. What began as a focus on serving country soon shifted into an era of independence. It was apparent that Eva greatly enjoyed the social freedoms as well as that of earning her own money. Simmons’ well showcases the stark divide between the ideology of previous generations and Eva’s own propensity to remain independent.
As men came home from the warfront and accessibility of women’s jobs lessened, Eva faced an uncertain future. But in what seemed a turn of fate, she met, fell in love, and married Vick. However, in a surprising twist, Vick disappeared within the first year of marriage.
The second half of the book unfolded as Vick’s life was brought into focus revealing other wives and several children.
Throughout the entirety of the book, there’s also much discussion of PTSD and the life changing affects it had on soldiers.
There were many interesting historical details within the book—especially the women’s war efforts and the newfound freedoms they appreciated. However, the writing itself often felt disjointed and lacking in cohesiveness. Rather than one overarching theme and/or goal, this nonfiction title reads as though two books being forced together.
🎧The audiobook narration is soft, breathy, and reticent in nature. While this seems apropos of the more demure housewives of the time, it didn’t reflect the boldness that I associated with Eva.
The first half of the book focused on Eva leaving the family farm to serve in the women’s war effort. What began as a focus on serving country soon shifted into an era of independence. It was apparent that Eva greatly enjoyed the social freedoms as well as that of earning her own money. Simmons’ well showcases the stark divide between the ideology of previous generations and Eva’s own propensity to remain independent.
As men came home from the warfront and accessibility of women’s jobs lessened, Eva faced an uncertain future. But in what seemed a turn of fate, she met, fell in love, and married Vick. However, in a surprising twist, Vick disappeared within the first year of marriage.
The second half of the book unfolded as Vick’s life was brought into focus revealing other wives and several children.
Throughout the entirety of the book, there’s also much discussion of PTSD and the life changing affects it had on soldiers.
There were many interesting historical details within the book—especially the women’s war efforts and the newfound freedoms they appreciated. However, the writing itself often felt disjointed and lacking in cohesiveness. Rather than one overarching theme and/or goal, this nonfiction title reads as though two books being forced together.
🎧The audiobook narration is soft, breathy, and reticent in nature. While this seems apropos of the more demure housewives of the time, it didn’t reflect the boldness that I associated with Eva.
May 5, 2025
3.5 stars rounded up.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is an intriguing book: non-fiction published by a university press, which is important for context.
Author Diane Simmons knew Eva Eldridge as a family friend and received a huge collection of her personal correspondence and other ephemera when she was named executor of Ms. Eldridge's estate. Reviewing this treasure trove of documents revealed much about Eva's life and led the author on a shocking investigation of bigamy.
The first part reads like historical fiction, sharing Eva's early adulthood in the time of World War II which provided an opportunity to leave the family farm in rural Oregon and work in the shipyards of Portland. There she discovered an exciting life filled with paychecks, soldiers, fashionable clothing, and independence. Along the way, she met Vick - they fell in love quickly and married, but soon after their honeymoon, he disappeared. Eva launched a frantic letter-writing effort to find him, which created a paper trail for Diane Simmons to follow.
The second part outlines the author's investigation into Vick, his serial bigamy, and a psychological analysis of his behavior. Throughout the book, Ms. Simmons also provides societal trends that impacted Eva and Vick, including "marriage fever" in the 1950s.
The audiobook, narrated by Kimberly Conwell, is adequate. It has no enhancements with music or sound effects, and listening with headphones revealed many instances of rerecording that distracted me.
Thank you to the University of Iowa Press and TLC Tours for the review copy of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.
The Courtship of Eva Eldridge is an intriguing book: non-fiction published by a university press, which is important for context.
Author Diane Simmons knew Eva Eldridge as a family friend and received a huge collection of her personal correspondence and other ephemera when she was named executor of Ms. Eldridge's estate. Reviewing this treasure trove of documents revealed much about Eva's life and led the author on a shocking investigation of bigamy.
The first part reads like historical fiction, sharing Eva's early adulthood in the time of World War II which provided an opportunity to leave the family farm in rural Oregon and work in the shipyards of Portland. There she discovered an exciting life filled with paychecks, soldiers, fashionable clothing, and independence. Along the way, she met Vick - they fell in love quickly and married, but soon after their honeymoon, he disappeared. Eva launched a frantic letter-writing effort to find him, which created a paper trail for Diane Simmons to follow.
The second part outlines the author's investigation into Vick, his serial bigamy, and a psychological analysis of his behavior. Throughout the book, Ms. Simmons also provides societal trends that impacted Eva and Vick, including "marriage fever" in the 1950s.
The audiobook, narrated by Kimberly Conwell, is adequate. It has no enhancements with music or sound effects, and listening with headphones revealed many instances of rerecording that distracted me.
Thank you to the University of Iowa Press and TLC Tours for the review copy of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.
June 20, 2024
I'm honored to have narrated The Courtship of Eva Eldridge for audio listeners. Learning from Diane about all of the letters, and other items she found of Eva's was fascinating. However, when I began reading the book, I wasn't expecting the types of twists, and all the wildness Eva's story had to offer. Vick is something else. When you think you have it all figured out about why he's doing what, it takes a turn.
Eva's story is amazing, and Diane meticulously brought everything she found together, putting in a book that is not only entertaining but also full of women's history from WWII up to the present day.
Eva's story is amazing, and Diane meticulously brought everything she found together, putting in a book that is not only entertaining but also full of women's history from WWII up to the present day.
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June 25, 2025
Based on the real life of Eva Eldridge, Diane Simmons uses 800 letters to tell her story. The audiobook is well done and I found the narrator did a great job at telling the story. Eva’s life is one you’d have to see to believe; my favorite part was seeing how she evolved with each move and how she came into her own by the end. I also really loved the connections made with other wives of Vick and hearing what happened in their lives.
I was gifted a copy to review.
I was gifted a copy to review.
January 24, 2025
Thank you to TLC Book Tours, the author, and U Iowa Press for the free audiobook. These opinions are my own.
This is such a fascinating nonfiction book. It was written by the executor of an estate who received a trove of letters.
It goes through time, featuring Eva during the war effort working for a shipbuilder here in Portland. And it also highlights the changing views of working women, both to push them into the workforce and to push them back out. As such, it especially features the pressures for women to be married.
With this backdrop, Eva marries Vic. Along with the author and Eva, we learn about Vic's many other marriages. I was so impressed by the incredible research, both with the original document letters and through government archives and interviews. And I learned so much about the post-war period and even about Portland.
The audiobook was very well produced. I especially appreciated the track titles for way finding. Each was labeled with years and places, so I could readily follow the timeline. Kimberly Conwell narrated well.
This is such a fascinating nonfiction book. It was written by the executor of an estate who received a trove of letters.
It goes through time, featuring Eva during the war effort working for a shipbuilder here in Portland. And it also highlights the changing views of working women, both to push them into the workforce and to push them back out. As such, it especially features the pressures for women to be married.
With this backdrop, Eva marries Vic. Along with the author and Eva, we learn about Vic's many other marriages. I was so impressed by the incredible research, both with the original document letters and through government archives and interviews. And I learned so much about the post-war period and even about Portland.
The audiobook was very well produced. I especially appreciated the track titles for way finding. Each was labeled with years and places, so I could readily follow the timeline. Kimberly Conwell narrated well.
February 21, 2020
Didn't finish, entirely too slow and not interesting
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews