THE PRESIDENT'S LADY: A Novel about Rachel and Andrew Jackson

by Irving Stone ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 1951

A biographical novel, dealing- this time- with Andrew Jackson, sure passport to popular favor, and Rachel, whose tragic start to her marriage proved the recurrent stumbling block for the checkered years that followed. While the allure of the title (its ironic significance not at first appreciated) is less evident than Immortal Wife the book is, I think, a better book, and the material more compelling in its interest, the characters more appealing. Jackson appears on the scene as a young aspiring lawyer, brought to the Donelsons by the man with whom he was to be lifelong friends. His upstanding shock of red hair, his ungainly, gaunt figure, his scarred face held small promise of the magnetism that drew some-repelled others. He became a trusted member of the household, and so fell under Rachel Donelson Robard's husband's fanatically jealous suspicions. Rachel's marriage to Lewis Robard, its breakup, and the aftermath with the acceptance of divorce, and its subsequent denial, is frankly presented, and the reader's understanding and sympathies enlisted, never to falter in the years through which the whole wretched drama reared its ugly head whenever Dame Rumor could use it to harm either Jackson or Rachel. But through those years, their devotion never faltered, though Andrew, too, must have proved a difficult husband. His determination to climb to the top, financially, professionally- and eventually politically, were hard for Rachel, who sought only peace and retirement. But her love for her husband came first, though ultimately it cost her life, on the verge of ultimate achievement of a post beyond the cavils of the critical public. It is a fascinating story, told against the background of the opening West, of New Orleans, glamor city, of Indian wars and the War of 1812, of frontiers becoming ""civilized"". It is a great romance. It is a vigorous picture of a key figure in the American scene.

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 1951

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1951

Categories: FICTION