Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly by Jennifer Fleischner

Mrs. Elizabeth Keckly and Mrs. Mary Lincoln first meet in 1861 when Mary's husband is scheduled to take the oath of office.  Mrs. Lincoln wanted fine clothes that would reflect her position as the nation's first lady.  Mrs. Keckly was one of the best and most popular modistes in Washington, and while fulfilling one role, Elizabeth Keckly also became a confident and cherished friend to the president's wife.

The friendship between these two ladies unraveled when Mrs. Keckly published a memoir in 1868.  The book, entitled Behind the Scenes, was a remarkably frank account of her own life.  But it was also a revealing look at the Lincoln White House, one which crossed the "Victorian" codes of friendship and privacy.  Ironically, with this publication, Mrs. Keckly had hoped to gain sympathy and understanding for a controversial first lady.

The author, Jennifer Fleischner, has written chapters which alternate between the two women, both of whom were born in 1818; each is profiled separately and chronologically up to their meeting in 1861.  After 1861, it is a shared story of a remarkable friendship.  Also, it is a great, if unfamiliar, tale in the Lincoln legacy, one which Mrs. Lincoln would write this acknowledgement to her seamstress, a former slave:  "I consider you my best living friend."