Review: _Hanging Mary:_ A look at Lincoln's assassination by another angle

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I'm still rather tenuous about my explorations into American history, fictional or otherwise. But the author of this one, Susan Higginbotham, is a favourite of mine, and I decided to take the leap and read her book. And I am very glad that I did. Set in Washington DC in the waning months of the Civil War, Mary Surratt has a difficult time of it. She has two children to set into the future, her daughter Anna and her son Johnny. Both are nearly adults, but life is not that certain in a country beset by war. Mary has a bigger problem than just a war to worry over. Her marriage wasn't an easy one, and being widowed has left her nearly destitute. But in an effort to keep her children afloat, she leased her tavern in a rural community, and relocated to Washington DC to run another property that she has turned into a boarding house. After some hard work, she now has a group of tenants, including a young lady named Nora, who comes from a well-to-do family. Another is a charming actor named John Wilkes Booth. We get to see the lives of this disparate group of people, and how they interact through the eyes of Mary and Nora, in alternating chapters. At first, it's pleasant and the charm of Booth shines, entrancing nearly everyone. There are surprise visitors, and even a courtship or two, especially for Nora, and everyone is looking forward to the end of the war. But everything comes crashing to bits on Good Friday, 1865, and the assassination of President Lincoln. Unfortunately for Mary, her daughter Anna, and Nora, their lives are going to be turned upside down. They are arrested and questioned over the president's murder and the fact that they knew Booth... I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. I knew nothing about Mary Surratt except for the fact that she was involved somehow with Lincoln's assassination, and to see the complicated, unhappy life of this woman was a real shock for me. The writing is immediate and gives a real sense of time and place as the lives of these women become intertangled and the chance of survival very slim indeed. The biggest pleasure of this was the immense amount of detail and accuracy of the research in this. So many historical authors make things up out of whole cloth to make their novels more exciting or fit their viewpoint. Here, Ms. Higginbotham had an treasure trove to work off of, and the narrative moves smoothly from one event to the other and gives a good sense of what was happening to these women. Along with the novel, there are author's notes, a reading group guide and the transcript of a conversation with the author about the book and writing it. I came away from this one understanding more about Surratt and Booth, and a desire to read more about Lincoln and the Civil War. If your taste runs to historical fiction, this should be very satisfying. I'm very nearly ready to read "Team of Rivals," one that has been waiting for a while on my bookshelves. Five stars overall, with a hearty recommendation. Hanging Mary: A Novel Susan Higginbotham 2016; Sourcebooks, Inc. ISBN 978-1-49261-362-6