Lucy: a Novel - Hardcover

Nearly 50,000 entries recall the living speech of a world now largely lost. Often wry and flippant, occasionally blue, and sometimes uproariously comical, they recapture the rich idiom of English life through the ages, bringing back to mind the vigour of Elizabethan phrase, the ribald language of dockside and pub, the richer coinages of messdeck and barrack, the euphemisms and witticisms of the Victorian drawing-room, and the irrepressible wit of errand boys and costermongers. The dictionary of slang and unconventional English was first published in 1937. Revised and enlarged editions appeared in 1938, 1949, 1951 and 1961. From the last of these, published in two volumes, this book has been compiled.

On the eve of World War I, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fiercely ambitious and still untouched by polio, fell in love with his wife's social secretary, Lucy Mercer. Eleanor stumbled on their letters and divorce was discussed, but honor and ambition won out. Franklin promised he would never see Lucy again.

Ellen Feldman brings a novelist's insight to bear on the connection of these three compelling characters. Franklin and Lucy did finally meet, across the divide of his illness and political ascendancy, her marriage and widowhood. They fell in love again. As he prepared to run for an unprecedented third term and lead America into war, Franklin turned to Lucy for the warmth and unconditional approval Eleanor was unable to give.

Drawing on recently discovered materials to recreate the voice of a woman who played a crucial but silent role in the Roosevelt presidency, Lucy is a remarkably sensitive exploration of the private lives behind a public marriage.