📖 Blog Tour ~ The President’s Wife by Anna Stuart

Bookouture
23 September 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
And the invitation to the blog tour

 

December 1941: ‘Pearl Harbor has been bombed.’ My husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, voice shakes as he tells me the devastating news. We both know what this means: America is at war.

Eleanor Roosevelt takes a deep breath. This is her third term as First Lady and she knows what it takes to lead her country alongside charming and charismatic Franklin. She’s dedicated to her role as an activist having spent her life working towards a vision of a better America. But the attack on Pearl Harbor shatters everything. Entering the war that’s been raging across the world will be their greatest challenge yet.

Eleanor and Franklin have been married for over thirty years; supporting each other through all the highs and lows and now they will need to pull together more than ever. But whilst their working relationship has always been strong their marriage has had its troubles. Will a more personal threat tear them apart right when they need each other the most?

With war now at America’s shores, the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. This is a moment that history will never forget, and all eyes are on them. Will Eleanor succeed in her role as the president’s wife and help to save her beloved country? Or will tragedy strike before the war is won…?

📖 My Review ..

I had heard, of course, of Eleanor Roosevelt, the indomitable American First Lady, who together with her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt led the American people during the momentous years of WW2. 

This fictional account is told in alternate chapters which link the Roosevelt’s early married life, along with their struggles, as they prepare for one of the greatest roles of their lives. Although born into privilege, Eleanor’s life had been far from easy, orphaned quite young and brought up by an assortment of relatives she thought she had found her anchor in her marriage to Franklin only for this to be left wanting in some areas and yet Eleanor’s steadfastness and stoical nature would see her blossom in America’s darkest hour.

I’ve really enjoyed reading about Eleanor and following on her journey as she stepped up when Franklin’s disability hampered some of his activities. She really was a force to be reckoned with and the author has done a great job of bringing this formidable woman to life. Having read the author’s previous novel, The English Wife, about Clementine Churchill, it was especially interesting to have a sense of continuity when these two influential woman come into contact with each other in war torn London in 1942.

Beautifully written, with historical accuracy and a real a sense of time and place, the history of WW2 comes to life, especially the involvement of America following the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was especially interesting to read of Eleanor Roosevelt’s loyalty not only to her public duty as the President’s Wife but also her utter commitment in helping to bring about a safer world.

About the Author

Anna Stuart lives in Derbyshire with her campervan-mad husband, two hungry teenagers and a slightly loopy dog. She was hooked on books from the moment she first opened one in her cot so is thrilled to now have several of her own to her name. Having studied English literature at Cambridge university, she took an enjoyable temporary trip into the ‘real world’ as a factory planner, before returning to her first love and becoming an author. History has also always fascinated her. Living in an old house with a stone fireplace, she often wonders who sat around it before her and is intrigued by how actively the past is woven into the present, something she likes to explore in her novels. Anna loves the way that writing lets her ‘try on’ so many different lives, but her favourite part of the job is undoubtedly hearing from readers.

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