A general’s wife and a slave girl forge a friendship that transcends race, culture, and the crucible of Civil War.
Mary Anna Custis Lee is a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, wife of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and heiress to Virginia’s storied Arlington house and General Washington’s personal belongings.
Born in bondage at Arlington, Selina Norris Gray learns to read and write … Norris Gray learns to read and write in the schoolroom Mary and her mother keep for the slave children and eventually becomes Mary’s housekeeper and confidante. As Mary’s health declines, Selina becomes her personal maid, strengthening a bond that lasts until death parts them.
Forced to flee Arlington at the start of the Civil War, Mary entrusts the keys to her beloved home to no one but Selina. When Union troops begin looting the house, it is Selina who confronts their commander and saves many of its historic treasures.
In a story spanning crude slave quarters, sunny schoolrooms, stately wedding parlors, and cramped birthing rooms, novelist Dorothy Love amplifies the astonishing true-life account of an extraordinary alliance and casts fresh light on the tumultuous years leading up to and through the wrenching battle for a nation’s soul.
A classic American tale, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray is the first novel to chronicle this beautiful fifty-year friendship forged at the crossroads of America’s journey from enslavement to emancipation.
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This book really moved me in the historical content of it. It didn’t glamorize the south at all. I didn’t know that Robert E. Lee’s wife was related to George Washington. They were a simple family. They were anti-slavery and worked hard to move slaves back to Africa. Mrs. Lee suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.
Loved this book. I got lost in the story of these two strong ladies. If you like historical reading you’ll enjoy this one.
Such history! Enjoyed the description of living in the south, living on a plantation and especially the relationship of Robert E. Lee’s wife and her slave. Couldn’t put it down.
I received this books as a win as a giveaway from Goodreads. This book is wonderful. We have had many books written abut the generals from the Civil War and little about the wives. But to read a books about what is interesting to read about a woman who was raised in the south prior to the war. And worked at helping the servants on her family plantation to be more than just slaves but to be people also. I very much enjoyed the relationship between Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray. I would recommend this book to be read but who loves a good Historical Novel.
I appreciate the thorough research Dorothy Love did for this historic fiction. She her imagination well to make this fiction come alive. The setting and characters were developed well. The story is about the wife of Gen. Robert E. Lee and her family slave, Selina and the life-long bond that developed.
Was a good book. I would recommend it to other readers that like to read historical fiction.
It just was very slow moving. I didn’t even finish it.
If you like early American history, this book is about George Washington’s grand-daughter growing up in the South and raising a family married to Robert E. Lee.
Believable
This historical novel explores the complicated relationships between mistresses and their slaves pre-and post-Civil War. Neither time period is romanticized. I also enjoyed the historical connection to Martha Custis Washington and her famous second husband as well as the peek into General Lee’s choices. Mrs. Gray’s conflicted point of view enriches the story. The novel also presents pros and cons for colonizing Liberia.
Realistic fiction. Gave two sides of slavery and the civil war. Could see how hard it was for both sides.
I thought the book has some good history but very long and drawn out
The story of the enduring relationship of these two ladies was very interesting.
This was a wonderful book! Really enjoyed getting to know Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Grey. It was interesting to get to know a different side of General Lee and learn a little about his wife. The author really brought these characters to life and helped one understand their circumstances. Truly a wonderful read!
I loved this book. The historical details mingled with the fictional situations and conversations left me feeling like I knew the main characters.
Based on a historically true story, it was very interesting to read about the lives of two strong women who were so alik, and best friends, yet divided by race.
I enjoy historical novels. I didn’t know anything about Mrs. Lee or Mrs. Gray so I learned a lot. I also didn’t know that the house at Arlington national cemetery was the Lee’s home.
I love this story. Love that it is historically based. i found that I couldn’t stop reading. Great story.
Great to see history through the eyes of these two great women
I have read Civil War books for many years and have always been fascinated by that time period. Getting to know more about General Lee as a husband,, father and outside of the military was interesting. He was a good man but also a product of the times. His wife was a good person with a good heart as well but also a product of her times. She did much good for that era of time.