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Sunday, June 26, 2011

"Lincoln's Diary"~ Do You Really Know What Happened?


Book Summary:
"Tantalizing ... Intelligent ... Riveting ... Sarah is a splendid
protagonist ..."

Sarah Morgan wants the truth, but if the truth proves Abraham Lincoln planned his own assassination, it could get her killed.
While digging into her own family secrets, Sarah learns that a private Lincoln diary her mysterious grandfather once owned has gone missing. And when she hunts down a professor who likely swindled her mother out of it, she’s accused of his murder. Running from police and a stalker who’s bent on destroying any evidence the diary exists, Sarah turns to the only person she trusts – herself. But after she stares death in the face and reaches out for help she discovers betrayal is right around the corner.
 Lincoln’s Diary is a fast paced journey into a young woman’s head as she weighs the price of truth against the cost of keeping secrets.


Author's Biography:

I live in the Pacific Northwest, spending as much time as I can writing and enjoying family. 

A few years ago I read a little book by an acquaintance of mine (I spend a lot of time at a local coffee shop).  The book was called "The Angel Inside".  And, I've been trying to release my angel from its rock ever since.

As for credentials, I received a bachelors degree in English from USC.  But, I think that was back when we wrote on parchment.




Abraham Lincoln's Presidential Library & Museum:  Click on link below

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My Humble Review:
I need to tell you right up front that I've been a devotee of the Lincolns since I was 10 years old...that would be about 50 years, then.
I'm most intrigued, admittedly, with Mary Todd Lincoln. She was a Southern girl...a lady by all standards of the word, a tiny, feminine thing; one accustomed to delicacies and the sweet graces of needlework, reading and music, she had maids and servants, albeit slaves.  These were the times, and these were the amenities of her very well-to-do station in her life.  The Todds were a family of renown and respect, as well as of wealth.  Mary Todd was a young woman sought after by highly desirable young men of station and society. She was known for her loveliness, her intelligence and her social abilities.
Why, then, would she forego all of the above and choose a rather clumsy, too tall, not exactly handsome, poor man from a destitute farm in a state not really recognized as the genteel South?  It continues to flabbergast me!  But, trusting her instincts as I've come to, I know she saw in him and felt it strongly, a flash of greatness.  She must have seen a brilliance that out-shown all the men she'd ever known or met in her life.  He must have had a quiet dignity or gentleness or persuasiveness of men that made her give up and give in all she had and could have had.  I find that just startling.  Also, she chased him until he married her!
I started from that perspective because I wanted to view "Lincoln's Diary" from a woman's eyes.  Fowler's use of Sarah, his daunting and tireless protagonist, was someone I could get hold of as a woman obsessed and relentless, wanting to find out the mystery of her grandfather's lost Lincoln's diary; and, the consequences of following the trail to it.
DL Fowler is a writer who will grab you by the nape of your neck and have you carrying his book around with you all day.  You'll be obsessed with it, so you may as well take in the car with you, and take it to work, too...for lunch.  Sneak reads whenever and wherever you can because you'll want to know what happens! This one's going to shake you like a yorkshire terrier.
Having understood we don't know all that's going on behind the scenes at top levels of our government, I enjoy the many books written about conspiracies surrounding Washington.  Some are great reads, and some are so-so. I recall reading somewhere about a certain private library that only the President has a key and code to so he can read the letters and diaries of former Presidents and such.  These writings are to have such information that's never been revealed to the public; such as, the real truth about JFK, Area 51, and other things.  "The Lincoln Diary" put me in mind of that library...in the sense that things may sometimes happen in Washington and amongst men that we can never know or prove.
This is a perfect read for women and men this summer.  It's fast paced. The writing is excellent.  And, Mr. Fowler knows his way around a "maneuver" or two which adds suspense and action to his prose.  A novel I recommend without reservation.
Please see more about Mr. Fowler at:
The Bookish Dame/Deborah

1 comments:

Colleen

I too am a Lincoln fanatic, lived in Springfield IL for 20 Years. A lot of history there. Great review, Deb.I will be reading this book for sure!,

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