Eleanor's story is well written, but written at a distance. She is a woman of strong convictions, first puritan-like, later more liberal but the same rigid exterior. What I struggled with in this biography is I felt we never got to HER. She was always supportive of Franklin (nice wife) and it was all about his causes.

A particular thing that stood out to me was the birth of her first daughter and her first son. Daughter came first. She wrote something akin to, I gave birth to a daughter and we named her Anna. Nothing more. Then for the son. I gave birth to a son and I was so happy because Franklin and his mother really wanted a son. Nothing more.

I know she loved her children and took good care of them. I just wish some of that would have been in the biography to make it come alive a little. Her courtship with Franklin had not one spark of passion in her writing of it. No excitement, no anticipation, no bliss. It is as if this woman hides her heart.

Mostly what this book brought to me, especially towards the middle and the end, was that it served as an apology for all the things that Eleanor and Franklin had done that the media had tried to lynch them for (as all media does -- deserved or undeserved). There were many such defensive moments here and there. The most interesting part of the book was towards the end after Franklin died where we learn of all the things Eleanor does after his death.