Very pleasantly surprised by this book! I am a fan of historical fiction, but I don't read much US history. (Shame on me) But after finishing Dan Abrams' Lincoln's Last Trial (about Lincoln's law career before he became President) earlier this year, I felt it fitting to read this book that has been on my shelf for a year or two about Lincoln's assassination. And it is not even about the assassination itself - it is about the people involved and not involved and partially involved in the plot to bring the South back into the war and get revenge on Lincoln. Specifically, Mary Surratt, John Surratt, Nora Fitzpatrick and of course, John Wilkes Booth. Very strange to read a story about Booth as a man rather than just a wicked assassin. But the focus really is on Mary and her part in the plot. Higginbotham imagines things from Mary and Nora's (a young boarder in Mary's boarding house) alternating perspectives in the months leading up to April 1865. Was Mary guilty of conspiring to kill the President? Was she complicit or an innocent bystander, or somewhere in between? How guilty was her son? Students of history know there is no spoiler here regarding the ending; this story is more about the journey to that end. Very well done!!!
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