LOVE IS ETERNAL

by Irving Stone ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 1954

This novel about Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln will unquestionably reach the higher echelon of the best seller lists. Not only does it qualify in its subject matter, but Stone's infallible gift of converting factual content into a fictional pattern with some sacrifice of authenticity serves him well. The Lincolniana purists and stricter scholars will take issue with one viewpoint or another, one interpretation or another, but for the general reader it will seem wholly convincing. The figure of Mary Todd is dominant and one learns to see Lincoln through their relationship. The sincerity of their devotion in marriage, the sources- emotional and physical- of their difficulties, follow on the whole the same pattern established in the Randall book. Certain areas of their life together are treated at greater length (the years when Lincoln suffered repeated setbacks in Illinois). Mary Todd's girlhood is done in perhaps more fictional vein than the balance of the book--- and the end is reached when as a widow, with Tad, she leaves the White House. The tragic aftermath is no part of this story of a marriage....

Pub Date: Aug. 11, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1954

Categories: FICTION