Frances Perkins Audiobook Review – Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray | Trailblazing Women in American History

An inspiring look at the first female U.S. cabinet member who transformed labor rights and redefined leadership during the Great Depression.

Synopsis

She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.

Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.

When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.

But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.

Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.

Audiobook Review

4 stars

First, know that if you want to read the best and detailed review for that book, you can go read Staphanie (Bookfever) ‘s review here: https://bookfever11.com/2024/03/12/blog-tour-review-becoming-madam-secretary-by-stephanie-dray/

I honestly don’t know how I will compete with that review!

Anyway, lets talk about that book.

First I had no idea who Frances Perkins was and I learned a great deal about her life, her iron will and her accomplishments.

Reading such story where the female main character has to battle her way through misogyny to become the first women ever member of a government showed me how far we went and how lucky I am. It also is humbling because compared to all what Frances Perkins has achieved for women, children and poor people in the US I wonder what I have accomplished so far! We clearly are not playing in the same league!

From the moment she worked in Hell’s Kitchen, in the poor area of New York, seeing women and children forced to work day and nights, dying of hunger or in factory fires because owners were too greedy to have proper security, Frances made her mission to help these people and right the wrongs.

She was formidable and indomitable, relentless in her quest and I have the deepest admiration for that woman.

Thanks to Frances, US citizens have no child labor and have a minimum of social security. That was revolutionary at the time when it’s taken for granted now.

The whole book is about her mission and how she managed to become Minister of Labor and stayed in that position for the longest time.

We see her personal struggles too when her husband succumbed to mental illness. At that time, there was no medicine and so little you could do to help.

Her career or rather, her calling or Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s summoning had her sacrifice so many aspects of her personal life. She had to disappoint her daughter so many times that it was heartbreaking to witness.

I loved learning all the historical facts about the Great Depression, the poor economic conditions hitting so many people, about the historical figures of that time like Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Reading about the friendship between Roosevelt and Frances was the highlight of the story. From arrogant and prejudiced, Franklin Delano became humble and devoted to US citizens after polio robbed him from the ability to walk. He was Frances most fervent supporter. I also had a blast seeing all the political moves and brilliance of Frances Perkins. Her life was a feat and an example for all.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie