Courting Mr. Lincoln

Starred review from January 15, 2019
Historical thriller veteran Bayard (Lucky Strikes, 2016, etc.) finds suspense in the three-cornered relationship of Mary Todd, her awkward but compelling suitor, Abraham Lincoln, and his closest companion, debonair Joshua Speed.About to turn 21 when she arrives in Springfield in 1839, Mary teeters on the brink of old-maidenhood. She's too sharp-tongued and politically astute for the town's eligible men--including, she thinks regretfully, handsome merchant Joshua Speed, whom she initially finds more charming than his friend Lincoln, who is as tongue-tied with ladies as he is plainspokenly eloquent at the Illinois statehouse. But Mary becomes intrigued by Lincoln, a rising Whig politician who finds a woman with brains and savvy enticing rather than off-putting. She doesn't yet realize how destabilizing their budding romance is for Lincoln and Speed. For two years the men have shared a room and a bed, not in itself unusual for 19th-century bachelors, but as Lincoln hungrily learned the ways of polite society from his new friend, a deeper intimacy developed. By the time Mary appears, Lincoln and Speed, each profoundly lonely for his own reasons, share an unusually intense bond apparent to all. Alternating between Mary's and Joshua's points of view, Bayard chronicles the bumpy progression of the Lincoln-Todd courtship, its painful blow-up, and Lincoln's subsequent collapse into crippling depression. There are no villains in this acute and compassionate portrait: When Speed warns Lincoln that Mary "will drain [you] dry," we can see there's some truth in this statement but even more truth in Lincoln's retort, "Is it this girl you object to? Or is it any girl?" The author commendably refrains from imposing 21st-century sexual mores on the Lincoln-Speed relationship, profoundly loving but not physical in Bayard's depiction. Mary Todd, by contrast, gets a welcome contemporary reappraisal as a woman of spirit and will, not the needy hysteric painted by traditional historians.Not a lot of action, but in Bayard's skilled hands, three complicated people groping toward a new phase in their lives is all the plot you need.

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March 1, 2019
Mary Todd, a vivacious Kentucky girl with a rebellious streak, arrives in in "ugly, raw" Springfield, Illinois, so that her sister can marry her off to one of the town's many bachelors. Mary is first drawn to handsome storekeeper Joshua Speed but soon finds she has more rapport with Speed's roommate, Abraham Lincoln. A shared passion for politics helps her overlook his frayed cuffs and lack of polish. It is Joshua who introduces them, having been enlisted by the town's social arbiter to aid Lincoln's rise by finding him a suitable wife. The more Lincoln pulls away from him and into Mary's orbit, however, the more discomfited Joshua becomes, even to the point of trying to sabotage the relationship. Bayard (Lucky Strikes, 2016) runs his narrative on parallel lines, one seen through Mary's eyes and one through Joshua's. Inserting Joshua, a real-life friend from Lincoln's Springfield days, adds dimension to a familiar story and, along with a richly imagined setting and complex characters, makes this a worthy addition to the fiction-about-Lincoln bookshelf.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2018

Short-listed for both Edgar and CWA Dagger honors for his historical thrillers (e.g., The Pale Blue Eyes), Bayard visits 1840s Springfield, IL, with Mary Todd, who has come to live there with her matchmaking sister. Mary falls for an ungainly young lawyer with a golden tongue, and their interest in politics cements the deal. In the background is Joshua Speed, Abraham Lincoln's friend, roommate, and possible lover, and he shares narration responsibilities with Mary. Big talking points here; with a 16-city tour to Washington (DC), Boston, New York City, Raleigh/Durham, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Denver.

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