| Description |
386 pages ; 22 cm |
| Summary |
"A general's wife and a slave girl forge a friendship that transcends race, culture, and the crucible of Civil War. Mary Anna Custis Lee is a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, wife of Confederate General Robert E Lee, and heiress to Virginia's storied Arlington house and General Washington's personal belongings. Born in bondage at Arlington, Selina Norris Gray learns to read and write in the schoolroom Mary and her mother keep for the slave children, and eventually becomes Mary's housekeeper and confidante. As Mary's health declines, Selina becomes her personal maid, strengthening a bond that lasts until death parts them. Forced to flee Arlington at the start of the Civil War, Mary entrusts the keys to her beloved home to no one but Selina. When Union troops begin looting the house, it is Selina who confronts their commander and saves many of its historic treasures. In a story spanning crude slave quarters, sunny schoolrooms, stately wedding parlors, and cramped birthing rooms, novelist Dorothy Love amplifies the astonishing true-life account of an extraordinary alliance and casts fresh light on the tumultuous years leading up to and through the wrenching battle for a nation's soul. A classic American tale, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray is the first novel to chronicle this beautiful fifty-year friendship forged at the crossroads of America's journey from enslavement to emancipation"-- Provided by publisher. |
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"Despite years of separation and increasing turmoil, an uncommon friendship endures"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (page 382). |
| Summary |
Mary Anna Custis Lee is the wife of Confederate General Robert E Lee, and heiress to Virginia's storied Arlington house. Selina Norris Gray was born in bondage at Arlington, learned to read and write in the schoolroom Mary and her mother kept for the slave children, and eventually became Mary's housekeeper and confidante. Forced to flee Arlington at the start of the Civil War, Mary entrusts the keys to her beloved home to no one but Selina. When Union troops begin looting the house, it is Selina who must save its historic treasures. |
| Subject |
Lee, Mary Randolph Custis, 1807-1873 -- Fiction.
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United States -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
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Enslaved persons -- United States -- Fiction.
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| Genre/Form |
Biographical fiction.
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| Subject |
Female friendship -- Fiction.
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African American women -- Fiction.
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| Genre/Form |
Historical fiction.
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| ISBN |
9780718042448 (softcover) |
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0718042441 (softcover) |
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