Alice & Edith : A Biographical Novel of the Two Wives of Theodore Roosevelt

by Dorothy Clarke Wilson

A fictional portrait traces the lives of Teddy Roosevelt's two wives, Alice Lee and Edith Carow, a lifelong friend and Roosevelt's spouse during his political ascendency

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

399 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 1989

About the author

Dorothy Clarke Wilson (May 9, 1904 – March 26, 2003) was an American writer, perhaps best known for her novel Prince of Egypt (1949), which was a primary source for the Cecil B. DeMille film, The Ten Commandments (1956).

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Hannah]

Excellent historical material. It's not the easiest thing in the world to write about a man's two wives with impartiality and equal affection for both women, but Wilson manages it as well as can be expected. Her grasp of Teddy's character was good and she doesn't fudge up events, even though this is supposedly a novel where artistic license might be permitted. My only comments on this is anyone expecting a NOVEL will be bored stiff, but anyone expecting a TEXTBOOK will have a good time. And, while Wilson tries hard to emphasize the qualities that the women had in common, she still slips now and then into making Edith appear to be a dull plain Jane who resented her man paying attention to a prettier woman--which is not, I think, fair or complimentary to Edith, who had plenty to recommend her in her own right and knew it too. :) But this is a good book and I recommend it to anyone who had an interest in the circa-1900 era.

[Jess]

This is my second reading of this book, having read it as a teenager, and the story is just as interesting and heartfelt as I remember. The story revolves around the life and achievements of Theodore Roosevelt but we are given an in depth look into the women he loved and who put such faith in him and his adventures. We meet Edith first as a childhood playmate and sweetheart, followed by Alice whom he met in college and fell in love at nearly first sight. The following story encompasses Theodore's entire life and is concluded with Edith's and his family's exploits until her death in 1948.

[Meleya]

It was a good read since I don't know much about Teddy and his wives. I hope it was mostly true. I did a bit of fact checking and some things were wrong. Read kind of like a romance.

[The History Mom]

Reads almost like nonfiction. A comprehensive look at the two most important women in Theodore Roosevelt's life.

[Lisa]

On a TR kick. He was an interesting person, so naturally he surrounded himself with interesting women. Read this 25 years ago and don't remember details. :)

[Nikki M.]

Interesting. It felt like a Theodore Roosevelt biography, rather than a book about the two women in his lives. He was a very restless man, and Clarke Wilson does do a good job of the emotions that these two women felt when TR decided to do something he wanted to do.He was away a lot. When he was away, it also took a toll on the women. When he was married to Edith, he went on an African safari for 1 full year.Leaving her to "tend to the children" and keep up socialite appearances.All in all, the author had an eloquence to her writing that kept me interested in how these women kept going on even when they knew that they were not first in TR's life.

[Ruth]

This is a fictionalized account of Teddy Roosevelt's two wives. Alice died very early in their marraige, so most of the book tracks Edith. It is a decent read, not the most in depth, but pretty interesting. Edith had a bunch of kids, and outlived most of them, which was kind of sad. She also had a complicated relationship w/ her step daughter, named Alice, but this book is very polite about everything, so there is not much drama.

[AloysiusPamela]

Wow! I could not put this book down...if you really want to understand the multi-complex personality of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and his first wife Alice, who died young; and his best childhood friend, who he then married...excellent book. Bravo to the author Dorothy Wilson, for bringing the Roosevelt family alive on paper!

[Carol]

History can be so interesting and Dorothy Wilson has made the lives of Teddy Roosevelt come to life for me. It also enlightened me on this period of history and on Roosevelt, himself. The words and the style of writing seem to be characteristic of the time period the author was portraying. Very interesting.

[Sandy]

The wives of Theodore Roosevelt. Interesting and informational. Insights into Roosevelt the man. Toward the ending was a lot of dates and places=not as interesting. Mostly very well done. I read an abridged version, Readers Digest.

[Linda]

Hope to get into this later -looks good.

[Jill Porter]

This is a very well written book. I got a much better understanding of not just Alice and Edith but, Teddy. I really enjoyed it.