Enchantress of Numbers

Title:  Enchantress of Numbers:  A Novel of Ada Lovelace

Author:  Jennifer Chiaverini

Publication Information:  Dutton. 2017. 444 pages.

ISBN:  1101985208 / 978-1101985205

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "A piteous mewling jolts Lady Anabella Byron from her melancholy contemplation of the fire fading to embers though the evening is still young."

Favorite Quote:  "Passion fades where once it burned brightly, but love, real love, can grow where only friendship was before."

Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countless of Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron, daughter of poet and nobleman Lord Byron. She was, in fact, his only legitimate child born out a marriage that lasted only until Ada was a few months old. Her parents separated shortly after her birth, and Ada Lovelace never had a chance to know her father.

Ada Lovelace's disputed claim to fame is her contribution to the filed of mathematics and computer science. Some credit her with being the world's first computer programmer; others discount her contribution to the work of Charles Babbage and his analytical engine.

Clearly, two stories are at play here. One is the story of the Byron's doomed marriage and its impact on the entire life of Ada Lovelace. The other is the story of Ada Lovelace, a pioneer as a female scientist and mathematician in a 1800s England.

I begin the book expecting the second story. Based on the title, I expect to the read the story of the woman of science and her pioneering accomplishments in the sciences. Quickly, I am disabused of this notion for the first part of the book is before Ada's birth; it is the story of her mother Annabelle and how she comes to marry and then separate from Lord Byron. It sets the foundation for Ada's upbringing.

This book is very clearly the first storyline. It is the story of Ada's family life, in particular her relationship with her mother. At first, this is disappointing for the book is not the story I am expecting. However, I decide to let go of preconceptions and attempt to appreciate the story for what it is - family, relationships, a child growing up, and a woman coming of age.

For that story, though, the book is too detailed and at times seemingly repetitive. In a nutshell, Ada's mother seeks to ensure that Ada will not fall prey to the madness she feels Lord Byron suffers from. Yet, at the same time, she is content to leave Ada in the care of her grandparents and various governesses. Ada has a rather lonely and sad childhood. That is the story that is told in various instances and various iterations through more than half of the book. I feel for Ada the child but don't need a couple of hundred pages to get there.

The second half of the book correspondingly feels rushed and not completely developed. For example, Ada makes a comment at one point of marriage being as constraining as her mother's control. However, that is never explored. At point, it seems Ada struggles with post-partum depression, but that too seems told in passing. The scientific contributions of Ada's life almost becomes incidental to the story.

What makes the book even more challenging is after the first section about the Byron's marriage, the book switches to a first person narrative from Ada's perspective. Mind you, the "perspective" begins with her infancy. The book addresses the fact that these are collected memories, but at the same time, it is just an odd construct. The first person narrative does not quite work in this situation. Regardless, the book is an interesting tale of a poet's daughter who grew up to be a mathematician.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Fates and Traitors

Title:  Fates and Traitors:  A Novel of John Wilkes Booth

Author:  Jennifer Chiaverini

Publication Information:  Dutton. 2016. 400 pages.

ISBN:  0525954309 / 978-0525954309

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "A sound in the darkness outside the barn - a furtive whisper, the careless snap of a dry twig underfoot - woke him from a fitful doze."

Favorite Quote:  "Let history decide what to make of the misguided, vengeful man who had killed a great and noble president. That was not the man she had known and loved. She had already said all she ever intended to say about the assassin John Wilkes Booth."

From Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene III:

There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar.

If thou beest not immortal, look about you.

Security gives way to conspiracy.

The mighty gods defend thee!

Thy lover,

Artemidorus”

Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,

And as a suitor will I give him this.

My heart laments that virtue cannot live

Out of the teeth of emulation.

If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live.

If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.

These lines are an appropriate epithet for the story of John Wilkes Booth, both for his actions and for his career as a Shakespearean actor. Abraham Lincoln is, of course, the Caesar of this story, and John Wilkes Booth, the traitor who kills him.

This book tells the fictionalized story of John Wilkes Booth through the stories of the women who loved him. Mary Ann Holmes, his mother. Asia Booth Clark, his sister. Lucy, the young woman who falls in love with him. Mary Surratt, the woman who believes in his cause and becomes part of his plot to assassinate President Lincoln.

This is not a story of suspense, for history tells us both of his actions and of the consequences of those actions for him. The book begins at the end with John's own view that he dies not as a convict surrounded by law but as a hero serving his country.

Beyond that glimpse, it is only through the perspective of these four women that there emerges a portrait of the man - son, brother, lover, and conspirator. Mary Holmes speaks of the challenges of her life and of her vision that predicts a future when her son is so very young. Asia's perspective is of her childhood playmate and confidante and of the rivalry between John and his brothers. Lucy's is the story of the innocence of young love despite the social inappropriateness of the match and the distancing of a political family from any hint of scandal. Mary Surratt's story is the one only of the four which agrees with the social and political views that lead John Wilkes Booth to his crime; her is also the one that has by far the more dramatic conclusion.

Like Jennifer Chiaverini's book Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, this book tells a story not from the perspective of the main players in the history but rather through the eyes of those encompassing the periphery. I would assume that these characters are easier to fictionalize, thereby enabling the story to be a more personal one. Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker errs more on the side of history, but this book is definitely more about the story and the relationships. The book feels a bit long and verbose at times, but it is an engaging one. Ultimately, this book is a story of these four women who love a man despite his faults and of their memories not of a traitor but of a son, a brother, and a lover.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

Title:  Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

Author:  Jennifer Chiaverini

Publication Information:  Penguin Group, Inc. 2013. 356 pages. 

Book Source:  I read this book based on its description. The book came as a hardcover edition from the library.

Favorite Quote:  "She was a free woman in a nation united and at peace. She had lived a full and fascinating life. She had known the most remarkable people of her age, and she had never refused to help the humble and down-trodden. Despite the disappointments and losses and heartbreaks, she would not have wished her life a single day shorter - nor, when the time came for her to join the many friends and loved ones who had gone on before her, would she demand an hour more."

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born a slave. She lived as a slave for over 30 years. She was able to purchase her freedom, and she headed north. She eventually settled in Washington DC and became the mantua maker for the wives of the politicians in the area. She received an introduction to Mary Todd Lincoln and based on her skill, became Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker.

More than that, she became Mary Todd Lincoln's friend starting from when Abraham Lincoln was elected president through the Civil War through Lincoln's assassination and beyond. It is through this vantage point that this book tells the story of this time in our history.

Prior to reading this book, I was not aware of Elizabeth Keckley or that she penned a controversial autobiography titled Behind the Scenes: Or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. This autobiography was in effect the cause of her estrangement from Mary Lincoln.

The book Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker purports to be historical fiction, but it reads more like history. Fascinating history about a critical period for our country, but history nevertheless. I found the focus of the book to be the history with Elizabeth's story providing a running theme through it. I wish it had been the other way around - Elizabeth' story told with greater emotion and feeling with the history providing a background.