Mrs. Adams In Winter : a Journey In the Last Days of Napoleon

Library Journal In early 1815, Louisa Adams left St Petersburg, Russia, with her young son to travel 2000 miles by horse and carriage to meet husband John Quincy Adams in Paris. As had been all too common in her marriage, she had been living alone for almost a year after her ambitious husband temporarily (it was thought) vacated his position as American minister to the tsar to participate in treaty negotiations ending the War of 1812. At about the same time, Napoleon escaped from Elba and also headed to Paris, which added drama to an adventure already daring for a lone woman (Bonaparte beat her to Paris by a day or two). Starting with Mrs. Adams's memoir of the journey, written later in life, historian O'Brien has indefatigably researched early 19th-century travel to re-create the 40-day journey through the bad inns and worse roads of Russia, Prussia, and France. Along the way, the reader gradually learns (almost as in a whodunit) the story of Mrs. Adams, the only First Lady born outside the United States. VERDICT This innovative and creatively told personal history of a forgotten figure bound by marriage to an ambitious American statesman bristles with insight into the era. Witty, informed, sophisticated, and moving; essential reading.—Stewart Desmond, New York

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