Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady

"The worthy partner of the worthiest of men..." After reading about our last First Lady, I was finally spurred to read the biography of the first First Lady that I've had on a shelf for several years. The quote is from a local newspaper's obituary at the time of Martha Washington's death.

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington has been a bit of an enigma in American history. Despite her marriage to the most revered man in our nation's history, we really have very little by which to judge her life. One of the reasons for this is her purposeful destruction of family letters and documents that she considered private matters. Because of the lack of first hand information, historians have had to rely on secondary accounts and stories, sometimes even interpreting the silence into something of significance.

Patricia Brady has done a good job of taking the bits of scattered information and weaving them into a story that makes George Washington's beloved wife come alive in a way I have never experienced. (It is important to keep in mind as reading, though, that much of what she says is her interpretation and not always proven fact.) I especially appreciated the effort made at establishing the family history of both Martha and George before their marriage and the way their families became interwoven as time progressed. I had always pictured Martha Washington with the same frail psyche that I attribute to Mary Todd Lincoln, but Brady shows the strength of her character and constitution. The way she deals with the death of parents, a spouse, all four of her children, grandchildren, extended family, close friends, and eventually George Washington, proves she had a strength that not many possess today. Brady shows us no evidence of bitterness or anger at her circumstances, just a quiet determination to do what needs to be done and an unlimited love for those in her life.

Like Laura Bush's autobiography, this retelling is not so much concerned with political happenings as with how those events impacted Martha and her family. Brady describes her as fiercely loyal and protective of her husband, taking an extreme dislike to anyone who attempted to paint him in a bad light. As a fan of political history, one of my favorite passages in the book is Brady's description of Hamilton and Jefferson, neither of whom Martha cared for because of their opposition (in very different ways) to Washington's plans for the government. "Alexander Hamilton was a brilliant man but a terrible politician. Neurotic impulses often ruled his behavior, and he suffered from the fatal delusion that he was a master manipulator, causing needless distrust and dislike. Thomas Jefferson actually was a master manipulator, especially in combination with the detail-oriented James Madison."

I wish I had taken the time to read this sooner, so I could have corrected my misconceptions, but I am not sure I would have appreciated it without the comparison between the first and last First Ladies.

Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush

Spoken from the Heart is the perfect title for Mrs. Bush's memoir. As you are reading you feel like you are sitting at her table, listening to a lifetime's worth of stories over a cup of coffee or tea.

She interweaves her roles as daughter, granddaughter, teacher, librarian, wife and mother with her more public roles as first lady of both Texas and the United States. Treating each season of her life with a quiet respect, never placing more importance on one over another. Taking each experience and showing how it prepared her to face those yet to come.

My favorite page takes place early in the book, describing her first teaching job. "The realities of an elementary school [or any school] classroom are far from the Hollywood romances of tweedy academics or wisecracking professors. The movies can condense an entire school career into a little over two hours. That doesn't take most teachers even through the morning. Teaching is, even for those who love it, at times isolating. It happens behind closed doors, one adult navigating the needs and complexities of twenty or more children, twenty or more entirely different personalities. We are not, in truth, so far removed from the days of the one-room schoolhouse. As much as teachers may talk to other faculty members, they don't go out to lunch or briefly laze by coffeepots or watercoolers. Elementary school teachers must calculate when their classrooms are subdued enough for them even to escape to the bathroom."

She introduced her students to her own love of books. The love that inspired her to become a librarian. The love that caused her to recognize the impact of authors both in Austin and Washington. The love that she took on her journeys throughout the world.

One of the things I appreciated most about her writing is the fact that while the book is about political people, it is not a political book. Mrs. Bush deals with the happenings of politics only as it impacts their family, without commentary, without judgment. She speaks of her husband as any loving wife would, she does not seek to hide his faults or to attack his detractors. She is honest about the struggles they faced and reports on them from her perspective, which is honestly all we can expect of her.

As events from the past decade or so were recounted, I couldn't help but realize how much I, personally, and we, as a nation, have let slip from our memories....The terror after 9-11 that just slowly faded away. The anthrax scares. The shoe bomber. The London explosion. The Rwanda genocide.

Mrs. Bush, to my best memory, wasn't constantly in the spotlight, seeking to be noticed and applauded for her actions, but was able to accomplish a remarkable number of very important initiatives during her eight years as First Lady.

I very much appreciated this glimpse into the lives of this family, that whether you support or abhor, had an undeniable impact on the past decade and in some ways on our future.

Take Three by Karen Kingsbury

I am so glad I was able to find Take Three so soon after finishing Take Two. It would have been a test of patience to wait very long to see what was in store next for the characters.

In the author's note at the end of the book, Kingsbury says that the characters moved themselves in ways she hadn't envisioned. I can't imagine things happening any other way.

Thankfully, a lot of lessons seemed to be learned from the trials experienced in Take Two. All except for Andi, that it. She continues to struggle throughout the course of the novel, trying to come to terms with past mistakes and the opportunity for forgiveness. (Can't say anymore without spoiling the ending.)

Chase and Kelly play a much smaller role in this book because he realizes the sacrifices his family has been making for his career and how much it is costing their family. "Her smile fell away and she looked truly sad. Scared even. 'Sometimes...I forget what Daddy looks like.'" Hearing the truth from his daughters opens Chase's eyes to see what he had been blinded to.

I guess, if I had to chose a theme for this book, I would choose redemption (even though Kingsbury has a whole series with that title). Not a "salvation" redemption, but a returning to what is right and true, a looking beyond the faults and failures of the past to what is ahead and how to accomplish it according to God's plan and timing. Allowing Him to take our past mistakes and do something great with them. ...I can't wait to see what is store in Take Four!

Take Two by Karen Kingsbury

Take One left the characters of Kingsbury's "Above the Line" series at the top of a spiritual high. God had accomplished amazing things and it was difficult to imagine them seeing any future trial as impossible to overcome. But nearly all mountain-top experiences are followed by new valley through which to journey. This is the setting for Take Two.

While the movie production has ended well, the editing and marketing process has just begun, bringing with it a fresh set of troubles, and for one of the producers a fresh set of temptations. While seeking to please God, his time has become consumed with the development of their two films, giving him many opportunities to spend with his business partners but not with his wife, Kelly. Being away from home so much has been difficult on her and she has struggles of her own to work through. At one point Kelly has to admit to herself that "...she was beyond discouraged and and relying on all the wrong sources to survive."

Finishing the last book, it was easy to hope that Andi had learned to be more cautious in her behavior, even if her heart had not changed. Sadly, this was not true. She is still seeking that elusive "something" that will fulfill all the needs of her heart. She thinks she has found this in a film student who wants to make her a star. Instead, she ends the book more lost and needy than when it began.

Baily and Cody are still trying to figure out how they are supposed to fit into each others' lives. Each sure that they can never be together and yet not wanting to live life apart.

Overall, Take Two left me feeling very sad. Not because it wasn't a good story, but because the pain and discouragement of the characters was so real you were experiencing it with them. I frequently found myself wanting to tell Chase to go home to his hurting wife, or let Andi know how big a mistake she was about to make. Because of where this book falls in the series, not everything was wrapped up at the end and things felt a little unresolved. But, like many times in our lives when we feel down and like there is no way out, we have to remember that there is another (or in this case, two more) book to be written.

Take One by Karen Kingsbury

Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite novelists. She has the ability to examine the reality of life without getting lost in its ugliness. Take One, is the first in a series that is actually a continuation of two other series written by Kingsbury. The characters in those series became so real to readers that no one was ready to say good bye when the last book was written. Take One doesn't begin where the others left off, those characters are more  like the extras for a new set of actors. 


Take One follows the struggle of two former missionaries as they seek to break into the movie industry, producing films that would uplift and encourage. They are met with trouble at every step in the process, but they refuse to give in to defeat. "A couple of willing guys looking to change the world...God's used less than that in the past. A stuttering recluse to change the mind of the Pharoah [their misspelling, not mine] of Egypt...a scrawny kid with a stone and a slingshot to bring down the Philistine army... A group of fishermen to bring the message of hope to an entire world."


The side story throughout the novel is that of Andi, the daughter of one of the producers. She is beginning her freshman year at Indiana University, the location shoot of her father's movie. Andi's struggle is that of many as they start out on their own, she spends most of the novel trying to sort out what she really believes. Early in the book she finds herself thinking about the apparent inconsistency of a loving God and an unfair world. "She hated when her thoughts went this way. Her stomach hurt and her heart beat faster than usual. Every breath felt tighter than the one before it. Because this was her very deep, dark secret - the thing that no one knew about her. Andi Ellison had doubts now. Her perfect faith in God was riddled with subtle cracks and shifts." Andi spends the rest of the book dealing with the after effects of allowing these cracks and shifts to grow and dealing with them when they first appeared. 


I don't want to give away too much else about the plot line, but it is a great start to what I anticipate will be a great series.