Time does fly! Way back when, I think when I was in 7th grade, I read a book that I’ve always remembered. Love Is Eternal by Irving Stone(468 pages) is a biographical novel about the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. It begins with Mary’s early life in Lexington, Kentucky and ends with her leaving the White House after the assassination and death of Abraham. Mary has been much maligned over the years due to her eccentricities and mental illness, but I’ve always had a soft spot for her due to the love between Abe and her related in this book.
Going to John McIntire Library and spending hours searching for books was a love I had from 4th grade on. I loved Love Is Eternal so much after reading it in 7th grade that I read it twice more during high school. Many times I would go past the section where this favorite of mine was shelved and look up at it with satisfaction.
Now, more than 40 years later, I own the same copy of Love Is Eternal that I read and loved so long ago. The Friends of the Library operate a used book store stocked with donated books and books that have been withdrawn from the library’s collection. Last year, on one of my many visits to the store, lo and behold there it was! Excited is not the right word for my reaction. For $1.00 it is now mine! How do I know it’s the same copy? I’m 99% sure that it is. It is the 1954 first edition and has the old John McIntire pocket in the back. A stamped date on the pocket says Nov. 24, 1965.
Once again, I’m reading and enjoying this great love story. And I’m not the only one. On one of the back pages others have written “Very good book!” and “Magnifique!” Also, out of curiosity, I checked it out on the internet the other night and found mostly 5-star reviews, including the following:
“I read and re-read this classic. Through Irving Stone's elaborate descriptive words, I feel, see and live what Mary Todd "Molly" did. I can smell the oranges, feel the velvet dress, and experience the political turmoil of the times prior to and during the Civil War. I don't even consider this book fiction. I am a romantic at heart, and she showed true devotion and undying love for Honest Abe. She taught me traits to look for in a man, and what to overlook. I am grateful to my father for giving me this book before he passed away.”
And…
“All my life I believed that Mary Todd Lincoln was a mean-spirited woman who undermined her husband's successes and caused him unbearable grief in their marriage. Now, after having read this truly remarkable story of their rocky marriage, I realize that a lot of their problems were caused by Abraham Lincoln's moodiness and hypochondria. Mary longed for a more glamorous life which would have placed them in "high society." Her husband desired no such station in life and this novel does well in exposing their faults and virtues, as individuals and as a couple, and as the title implies, shows that both worked hard constantly to make their marriage successful. It is a great story of love, devotion, misery, grief, and its historical setting is the turbulent years leading up to, and including the Civil War.”
Amazingly, one that I could have written is: “I first read this book about Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln when I was in the 8th grade. I read and re-read it many times more while in school and after graduating started looking for a copy I could purchase and keep. Thank you Amazon, for finding these hard-to-find books. This one is right up there with Gone With The Wind and Little Women in my list of favorites.”
Want a good book to read? Check it out!
