Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts
Page 17
When he starts to shift in his seat as if getting ready to stand, Alice blurts out, “Are you going to war?”
Her father nods slowly. “President McKinley has called for volunteers, and it’s my duty to answer. I’ll be joining the First U.S. Cavalry as second-in-command. We’ll be Rough Riders, of a sort.” Father offers her a smile. “You remember?”
Alice tries to smile back. “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World Show. I remember.” She was seven years old when her father took her to see Buffalo Bill’s famous show. She left determined to become a sharpshooter like Annie Oakley.
Impulsively, Alice launches herself out of her chair and flings her arms around her father’s neck. He smells of sandalwood, as always. “You have to come back.”
He wraps his big arms around her. “Of course I’ll come back.”
He sounds confident, and why wouldn’t he be? Her father has succeeded in everything he has ever endeavored to do: serving as state assemblyman, running a ranch in North Dakota, and routing corruption out of the New York City police department.
After those professional successes, the failures in his personal life must haunt him like ghosts that will never fade. The wife who died, the mother he did not save, the brother he could not redeem from drink.
Those ghosts, Alice realizes, are what drives her father to keep moving, to keep climbing and achieving. When he returns from this war—and he will return—he won’t rest on those laurels. He will pursue something even more exciting.
Alice makes up her mind to support whatever her father chooses next, whether it’s another ranch in the Dakotas or the presidency of the United States itself.
And why not the presidency, now that Alice thinks about it?
She’ll have to suggest it to him.
May 18, 1898
Dearest Alice,
It is arranged! I will be starting at the Allenswood Academy in London next year. I am so very excited and also terrified. Please tell me everything will be quite all right. I might believe it if it comes from you. I worry about fitting in with the other girls, afraid they will think me strange and awkward. But I remember what you told me, that no one can make me feel inferior without my permission. (I don’t remember your exact words, but it was something like that.) I intend to follow your advice as best I can.
Something else has happened. Yesterday, I received an invitation to attend a lecture given by Mr. Tesla on “Questioning the Nature of Hauntings.” Guess who invited me! Nellie Bly! She sent two tickets, one for me and one for Grandmother. Grandmother won’t go, of course, but she can’t forbid me to go because I was invited as Miss Bly’s personal guest. I do wish you were here to take the extra ticket, but rest assured I will memorize everything Mr. Tesla has to say and tell you all about it when I next see you.
Speaking of which, Gracie will be home from school in a week, and then, come June, we will join you at Oyster Bay. I cannot wait to see Aunt Bye and our littlest cousin, Baby Will.
As for your idea of running your father for President, I heartily approve! I mentioned it to Franklin in my last letter, and he replied by return post that he thought it was an excellent idea. He says he will support your father for President if you will in turn promise to support him, should he ever choose to run. Can you imagine it? But stranger things have happened, I suppose!
I cannot wait to see you this summer and am counting the days.
With love from your devoted cousin and alter ego,
Eleanor
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is a work of historical fiction, which means that some of it is grounded in history and other parts are purely invented.
The ghosts are the fictional part. Obviously. So, what’s true?
Eleanor Roosevelt was orphaned before the age of ten after her mother and brother died of diphtheria and her father died as a result of his alcoholism. She and her youngest brother, Gracie, were left in the care of their oppressive maternal grandmother, Mary Ludlow Hall. For her own purposes, Mrs. Hall sought to separate Eleanor from her Roosevelt relatives, although Eleanor was permitted to attend their biannual reunions. Eleanor described herself as socially awkward growing up, uncomfortable with peers her own age, and unfashionably dressed. She was self-conscious about her appearance, having been told by her mother at a young age that she was “plain” and “an ugly duckling.”
Eleanor’s aunt Bye arranged for her to attend the Allenswood Academy in London, which Eleanor later described as having a monumental influence on her life. By the time she was eighteen, a serious romance had developed between Eleanor and her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They married in 1905. Franklin would go on to become the only four-term American president, while Eleanor is generally acknowledged as America’s most beloved First Lady, known for her political and social work.
Alice Roosevelt was born a few months before her cousin Eleanor. Her mother died of Bright’s disease after her birth, and her paternal grandmother succumbed to typhoid fever the same day. Her grieving father relinquished Alice to the care of his sister, Anna “Bye” Roosevelt, but reclaimed her after marrying his childhood sweetheart, Edith Carow. Alice grew up within the Roosevelt household but never quite felt herself a full member of it. Her stepmother was cold, and her father avoided calling her by her given name for most of her childhood. Perhaps for this reason, she developed a rebellious personality and was called, by various relatives, a “wild animal,” a “guttersnipe,” and a “hellion.” In February of 1898, her parents again sent her to her aunt Bye in New York City to separate her from a gang of boys in Washington, D.C., with whom she was “running riot.”
When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, Alice catapulted into fame as America’s favorite First Daughter. Her favorite color, described as Alice Blue, became the most fashionable color in the United States, and her scandals delighted the press—smoking, driving motorcars, gambling, and carrying around a snake named Emily Spinach. Her father famously stated: “I can either run the country or I can attend to Alice. I cannot possibly do both.”
The Roosevelt cousins depicted in this book are real, and there were a good many more I left out of the story because there was no room to fit them in!
If you want to learn more about the Roosevelt family—or about the other historical figures in this story, such as Nellie Bly and Nikola Tesla (who really did build a spirit radio)—check out the titles at the end of this book.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the spring of 2018, I was “haunted” by an idea about a world where ghosts are real and categorized into three types, but I lacked a protagonist to bring life to an actual story. During a late-night descent into the rabbit hole of Twitter, I stumbled across an article describing the most outrageous First Daughter in American history. I already knew a few things about Alice Roosevelt before reading that post, but I knew a lot more about her famous first cousin by virtue of having taught a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt to fifth-grade students several years earlier. That night I knew I’d found not one main character, but two.
Despite the discovery of a pair of protagonists, this book would never have existed without the support of my agent, Sara Crowe, who believes in me even when I don’t believe in myself, and my editor, Sally Morgridge, who saw potential in my weird alternate history and two resilient Roosevelt girls. I also want to thank my excellent copyeditor, Barbara Perris, and the editorial and design teams at Holiday House who created the interior and exterior of this book.
Early on the path toward bookhood, critique partners and beta readers offered invaluable feedback on the story and character arcs. Thank you, Marcy Hatch, Krystalyn Drown, Christine Danek, Jennifer Williams, Maria Mainaro, Pj McIlvaine, Colleen Rowan Kosinski, Darlene Beck Jacobsen, and Kimberly Yavorski for your insight.
Thanks also to my family for cheering me on and for preten
ding not to mind all the Roosevelt trivia I casually dropped into conversation for months on end.
Finally, I want to express my deep gratitude to the one person whose unwavering support has uplifted me even in the most discouraging times—my best friend, the love of my life and husband, Bob. XOXO forever.
WHAT TO READ NEXT
Burgan, Michael and Hoare, Jerry (illus.). Who Was Theodore Roosevelt? Penguin Workshop, 2014.
Christensen, Bonnie. The Daring Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2003.
Freedman, Russell. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery. Clarion Books, 1997.
Frith, Margaret and O’Brien, John (illus.). Who Was Franklin Roosevelt? Penguin Workshop, 2010.
Gigliotti, Jim and Hinderliter, John (illus.). Who Was Nikola Tesla? Penguin Workshop, 2018.
Harness, Cheryl. Franklin & Eleanor. Dutton Juvenile, 2004.
Kerley, Barbara and Fotheringham, Edwin (illus.). What to Do About Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! Scholastic Press, 2008.
Knapp Sawyer, Kem. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Photographic Story of a Life. DK Children, 2006.
Macy, Sue. Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly. National Geographic Children’s Books, 2009.
Rose, Caroline Starr and Bye, Alexandra (illus.). A Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly and Elisabeth Bisland. Albert Whitman & Company, 2019.
Thompson, Gare and Wolf, Elizabeth (illus.). Who Was Eleanor Roosevelt? Penguin Workshop, 2004.