is a half-constructed labyrinth of Byzantine politics, skullduggery, and even murder. I LOVED the book?s portrayal of the capital city. She?s very real, very vulnerable, and very motivated to push to the dark center of a conspiracy.
Racism had bloody teeth back then and Abigail, an educated ?colored? woman gives us an excellent lead character. There are senators, congressmen, chief justices, and Civil War generals buzzing about Washington like angry hornets. government to become fully engaged in this conflict. The author never shies away from allowing the actual members of the U.S. Thank God! The characters are independent and the course of the novel is driven by their actions. Carter?s book is actually stunning in its scope and I never once felt a single moment of authorial intrusion. I dare say there is some genius in this novel. I assumed I would be reading a story with a strong opinion on Lincoln laced with modern preaching. Lincoln had VERY limited support in his own government. Is putting Lincoln on the stand just a sham? Remember, Lincoln?s successor, Andrew Johnson, WAS impeached by the House of Representatives. Here is a vividly imagined work of historical fiction that captures the emotional tenor of post-Civil War America, a brilliantly realized courtroom drama that explores the always contentious question of the nature of presidential authority, and a galvanizing story of political suspense.
But when Lincoln’s lead counsel is found brutally murdered on the eve of the trial, Abigail is plunged into a treacherous web of intrigue and conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the divided government. Twenty-one-year-old Abigail Canner is a young black woman with a degree from Oberlin, a letter of employment from the law firm that has undertaken Lincoln’s defense, and the iron-strong conviction, learned from her late mother, that “whatever limitations society might place on ordinary negroes, they would never apply to her.” And so Abigail embarks on a life that defies the norms of every stratum of Washington society: working side by side with a white clerk, meeting the great and powerful of the nation - including the president himself. Two years later he is charged with overstepping his constitutional authority, both during and after the Civil War, and faces an impeachment trial. Carter’s thrilling new novel takes as its starting point an alternate history: President Abraham Lincoln survives the assassination attempt at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. From the best-selling author of The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White, comes a daring reimagining of one of the most tumultuous moments in our nation’s past.
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