Booth's Daughter [Hardcover]

Raymond Wemmlinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

In March 1880, at age eighteen, Edwina is experiencing many new things. For the first time she sees her actor father, Edwin Booth, in King Lear, a play he had considered "too harsh for a young lady." For the first time she finds herself squarely facing the burden carried by her family name for more than a decade: the assassination of President Lincoln by her uncle John Wilkes Booth. And for the first time she is in love, with Downing Vaux, an artist whose father, like Edwina's, is famous.
Edwina leaves Downing behind when her father insists that she accompany him on a year-long theatrical tour abroad. Downing is loyal, however, and when she returns to New York they become engaged. But when the assassination of President Garfield thrusts the Booth family back into the limelight, Edwina finds that she must travel abroad again with her father, and Downing's devotion is tested. Forced to reexamine her life, Edwina faces a difficult choice between duty and the pursuit of happiness. In this surprisingly modern coming-of-age story set in a well-researched historical context, Raymond Wemmlinger explores the light and dark sides of creative genius and the comforts and burdens of family.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—This story, set in the elegant society of the 1880s, keeps readers at a distance that emulates the social period of the times. Despite being told in first person by Edwina, the niece of assassin John Wilkes Booth, the novel retains a detached quality, never showing more than would be polite in mixed company. While her father, Edwin, is a wonderful actor and worthy of accolades, the attention the Booth family receives is more of the "notorious" variety due to their familial association with the man who shot President Lincoln. The teen's desire to be a good, supportive daughter to her temperamental father and mentally unbalanced stepmother overrides standing up for what she believes is most important in her life: getting married to Downing Vaux and beginning her own family. Circumstances make Edwina's plans spiral out of control, leaving her with no choice but to follow her father's arrangement of her life. Wemmlinger presents an interesting picture of upper middle class existence in this debut novel set at a time when women were just beginning to see themselves as autonomous. Thoughtful teens will enjoy Booth's Daughter.—Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI
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From Booklist

"[My] last name had a great problem attached to it," says Edwina Booth; in this historically inspired first novel, her complaint applies both to her uncle's years-past assassination of Lincoln and to the burden of living in the shadow of her famous dad, actor Edwin Booth. The curator of New York's Hampden-Booth Theatre Library, Wemmlinger focuses primarily on the father-daughter relationship, which is shaken as Edwina contemplates marriage and begins to question whether her egocentric parent has her interests at heart. The first-person narrative often bogs down in historical details, but elements reminiscent of an Edith Wharton novel--the mannered social interactions, Gilded Age settings, and matrimony-bound momentum--will draw many romantically inclined readers, who will delight in the sweet inevitability of Edwina's love match as much as in the closing message: "Grab your own chance at happiness. You can make others happy only if you're happy yourself." An afterword offers a list of sources that can help readers negotiate the underpinnings of the story. Also suggest James Cross Giblin's excellent nonfiction Good Brother, Bad Brother (2005). Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: Front Street Press (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932425861
• ISBN-13: 978-1932425864
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YA Historical Fiction, April 28, 2007

By 

mimagirl "Miss Erin" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Booth's Daughter (Hardcover)

Edwina Booth has just reached her 18th birthday and is beginning to experience the benefits of adulthood. For one, her father, the famous American Shakespearian actor Edwin Booth, is finally allowing her to see him in his title role in King Lear. For another, she's being invited to all sorts of social outings and parties for young people. The advantage of the latter is obvious - in Edwina's practical mind, she already has plans to find a husband (an artist, preferably) who she can marry and support. In fact, it seems her entire life is planned out precisely the way she wants it. But meanwhile her stepmother's illness worsens, her father has to keep up with his life as an actor, and there's always The Subject that threatens to interfere with the lives of the Booth family. You see, Edwina is the niece of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Lincoln.

From a performer's point of view, I rather enjoyed reading a non-performer's view of an actor (Edwina's father) and his struggles and triumphs. The book itself is one that you have to be in just the right mood for, otherwise I suppose it might drag a bit. Edwina's voice seemed just a little flat. Yet I was quite drawn into Booth's Daughter; it was a refreshing and interesting historical tale of one girl's struggles into womanhood. A relaxing read to curl up with.

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Perspective on an Old Story, December 12, 2009

By 

Wendall Paul Sexton "wendallpauls" (Kansas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Booth's Daughter (Hardcover)

"I was attracted to the book by the title: `Booth's Daughter'. What would the daughter of John Wilkes Booth have to say on the subject of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Being not about the daughter of the infamous Booth, but rather his niece, Edwina, the daughter of his elder brother, Edwin, the topic is rarely mentioned. The Booth family refers to it merely as `The Incident', abandoning it to the past.

"Yet there is no leaving tragedy fully behind that is never fully brought out into the light. Wemmlinger infers this reality by showing Edwina, one's guide through 1880s New England, that tragedy follows all shows of greatness. One example after the next enters her life of how both affect all people. That juxtaposition of the two even affects her father, the great tragedian actor of his day. `The Incident', she surmises, infused him with the lament of personal pain to draw upon in all his performances.

"There is even a subtle inference to Edwin's superior acting talent as being the impetus to John Wilkes' act - an effort to upstage his brother.

This is never explicitly declared. It is Wemmlinger's superb writing of the story to plant the possibility in a reader's mind. It is one mere nugget of treasure to cull from this wonderful story a century past in our past."