Bedford Public Library

Passionate mothers, powerful sons, the lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt, Charlotte Gray

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

collective biography

illustrationsgenealogical tablesplates

index present

non fiction

Passionate mothers, powerful sons

bibliography

1389274322

Charlotte Gray

the lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt

"The stories of Sara Delano and Jennie Jerome, before and after birthing their sons, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, consecutively."--, Provided by publisherBorn into upper-class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano and Jennie Jerome refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. In the mid-19th century, the industrial vigor of the United States of America was catapulting the republic towards the Gilded Age. Sara and Jennie, raised with privilege but subject to the constraints of women's roles at the time, learned how to take control of their destinies: Sara in the prosperous Hudson Valley, and Jennie in the glittering world of Imperial London. A vivacious extrovert, Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill; her deft maneuvering helped not only her husband but, once she was widowed, her son, Winston. Deeply conventional Sara Delano married a man as old as her father, but once widowed helped Franklin, her only child, acquire the skills he needed to become a successful politician. Gray argues that Jennie and Sara are remarkable individuals who were key in shaping the characters of the sons who adored them-- and in preparing them for leadership on the world stage. -- adapted from jacket

Preface: The pageantry of power 1867 -- A gilded start. Jerome flings and flash 1854-1867 ; Delano decorum and discipline 1854-1870 ; High-spirited Jennie 1867-1873 ; Self-assured Sara 1870-1880 -- Courtship and marriage. Jennie's "very dangerous affair" 1873-1874 ; Toxic Churchill dynamics 1874-1880 ; Roosevelt harmony 1880-1890 -- Maternal bonds. Jennie's dream crumbles 1880-1886 ; Churchills: love and death 1887-1895 ; Sara's "dear, dear boy" 1890-1903 -- Making her own choices. Jennie: "no wire unpulled" 1895-1899 ; Jennie goes to war 1899-1901 ; Sara acquires a "daughter" 1901-1904 ; The ups and downs of Churchill marriages 1901-1912 ; Sara stays close 1904-1913 -- The final years. Jennie: "on the wrong side of the ladder" 1912-1918 ; Sara's old-fashioned values 1913-1919 ; Jennie's "best foot forward" 1918-1921 ; Sara: "our dear invalid" 1921-1931 ; Sara: America's matriarch 1931-1941 -- Afterword: After lives

adult

Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt