Readers' rating:
Publishes
Mar 12, 2024
528 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and richly dramatic novel about American heroine Frances Perkins, who pulled the nation out of the Great Depression.
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.
When she's not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell's Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.
But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he's a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she's a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.
Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR's most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she's willing to do—and what she's willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.
"Becoming Madam Secretary is a proud anthem to a forgotten founding mother.... Stephanie Dray's love and respect for this American heroine shines from every page, as does her impeccable research. Unputdownable!" —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye
"Stephanie Dray is one of my absolute favorite authors of historical fiction, and her new novel Becoming Madam Secretary shows why...Dray's unique skill is telling the big picture of Frances's life, while at the same time making her a completely relatable wife in a difficult marriage and a working mother when that phrase was unheard of. I couldn't stop turning the pages in this novel, which is both an inspiration and a triumph!" —Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of Loyalty
"An inspiring tribute to an audacious, brilliant woman who fought ferociously against the mistreatment of the poor and working class in the last century and in doing so transformed American democracy. Dray's three-dimensional portrayal of Perkins's life and times is both astonishing and infuriating in the best of ways, a gripping tale of a woman who refused to back down. Powerful and timely." —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular
"With the tenderly poignant writing and impeccable research that her readers have come to expect and love, Dray has delivered a fresh and sweeping work of biographical fiction that readers will surely devour. This is an inspiring, illuminating and important book by Dray — I was blown away. Thank goodness Frances Perkins lived when she did; and thank goodness she said 'yes' to FDR's challenge of Becoming Madam Secretary." —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
"A page-turning tribute to a woman who refused to give up, a woman who inspires us even now, and a woman who saved a nation ... Stephanie Dray brings Frances Perkins, and everyone around her, so alive you feel she will walk off the page. With an indomitable heroine for our times, Becoming Madam Secretary is destined to be a classic of historical fiction." —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times Bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea
This information about Becoming Madam Secretary was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stephanie Dray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical women's fiction and fantasy. Her critically acclaimed historical series about Cleopatra's daughter has been translated into eight languages, was nominated for a RITA Award, and won the Golden Leaf. Using the stories of women in history to inspire the young women of today, Stephanie remains fascinated by all things ancient and has, to the consternation of her devoted husband, collected a houseful of cats and Egyptian artifacts.
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