#stephanie dray

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

Have you read My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie (2018)?

yes

no

I didn't finish it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onJul 11

[nordleuchten]

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful beginning the the year😊 I just have a simple question to ask you.

Have you ever had a chance to read the book ‘Lafayette: courtier to crown fugitive, 1757-1777’?

I was looking for some novels about the Lafayettes and this came up and I’m currently reading it. I kind of like how it portrays Gilbert and Adrienne’s relationship, it feels realistic.

If you have how did you feel about it?

Dear Anon,

thank you very much, I indeed had a great start into the new year and I hope you had as well!

I know the book and I have a copy at home but I have yet to read it. So far I only skimmed through the first few chapters and was pleasantly surprised by what I have seen – especially since the cover design of my edition (La Fayette as a half-naked Barbie Ken-Doll) had me seriously doubting the quality of the book at first.

Another historical novel that I have read and that I can recommend is The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray.

I am sorry that I can not give you a more satisfying answer but if you ever have a question regarding a specific passage/scene, feel free to send it to me and ask.

I hope you have/had a lovely day!

[dominik528]

The scene in My Dear Hamilton, when Eliza confronts Lafayette on her husband and John Laurens having been more than friends, and he basically responds with:

[burblesnwords]

In violence we are torn away from each other, and this world into the next... ... but BECOMING is always an agony.

Stephanie Dray, A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii

[diaryoftruequotes]

Life is a bargain between bitter and sweet. Because there is a surfeit of bitter, we must savor the rare sweet.

Stephanie Dray

[the-maiden-who-ran-away]

Did you love watching Hamilton on Disney+ but find yourself wishing you knew more about what Eliza did for those 50 years after Hamilton died? Do you wish they had acknowledged the John Laurens romance at least a little? Do you wish Peggy had more than two lines? Were you incensed that the musical pretended that only Jefferson and Madison owned slaves when in fact the "good guys" ALSO had a long and contradictory history with the slave trade? Do you want to feel really, really badly about how much you identified with Angelica as the gravity of what that love triangle would've actually been like for Eliza finally hits you, five long years after you first heard the soundtrack? Well then do I have the book for you!

But seriously read it it's good

[mythicalmagistra]

So....new book from an author I really love. Do you love history? Do you love historical women? Do you love researched and well written books about historical women? Then this book might be for you (it’s definitely for me!) Highly recommend pre-ordering this book and following Stephanie Dray, she is wonderful and writes a lot about women in history. The book is THE WOMEN OF CHATEAU LAFAYETTE by New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray (Berkley hardcover; on-sale March 30, 2021).

And look how on point this is, the cover reveal is TODAY, July 14th, Bastille Day. Y’all, historical stuff dropping on historical days. So cool. Anyway. 

Have a pre-order link: https://bit.ly/3iLkURa Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/320tkya Sign up for Stephanie’s newsletter: https://www.stephaniedray.com/fun/newsletter/

YOU CAN ENTER TO WIN AN ADVANCED READER COPY! (because I signed up to do the cover reveal, y’all could win this, how cool? I think its cool. Look, y’all already knew I was a nerd, ok?) https://bit.ly/SDCoverSweeps

ABOUT THE BOOK

An epic saga from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy in three of humanity's darkest hours.

Most castles are protected by powerful men. This one by women...

A founding mother...

1774. Gently-bred noblewoman Adrienne Lafayette becomes her husband's political partner in the fight for American independence. But when their idealism sparks revolution in France and the guillotine threatens everything she holds dear, Adrienne must choose to renounce the complicated man she loves, or risk her life for a legacy that will inspire generations to come.

A daring visionary...

1914. Glittering New York socialite Beatrice Astor Chanler is a force of nature, daunted by nothing--not her humble beginnings, her crumbling marriage, or the outbreak of war. But after witnessing the devastation in France and delivering war-relief over dangerous seas, Beatrice takes on the challenge of a lifetime: convincing America to fight for what's right.

A reluctant resistor...

1940. French school-teacher and aspiring artist Marthe Simone has an orphan's self-reliance and wants nothing to do with war. But as the realities of Nazi occupation transform her life in the isolated castle where she came of age, she makes a discovery that calls into question who she is, and more importantly, who she is willing to become.

Intricately woven and beautifully told, The Women of Chateau Lafayette is a sweeping novel about duty and hope, love and courage, and the strength we find from standing together in honor of those who came before us.

Q&A WITH STEPHANIE DRAY

What made you fall in love with Adrienne Lafayette and why do you think readers will fall for her as you did?

Thanks to a popular musical, the Marquis de Lafayette is known to a new generation as "America's Favorite Fighting Frenchman"--and there's good reason for that. He's easily the most lovable of our Founding Fathers, and his wife, whom he called his dear heart, is just as lovable if not more so. Adrienne was our French Founding Mother, so right up my alley as a heroine, but at first I worried she was too sweet, devoted, and forgiving. In short, too gentle for a novel. Little did I realize that more than any other historical heroine I've ever written, Adrienne fought and sacrificed for her principles, courageously threw herself into danger, confronted tyrants, and endured trials that would have broken lesser mortals. She truly humbles me, and when I talk about the Lafayette legacy, I think of it as every bit as much hers as it is his.

How long did it take you to write this book? Did the story evolve as you researched, or did you always know you wanted to take on the lives of these particular women?

I was always interested in Lafayette--an interest that grew as Laura Kamoie and I co-authored America's First Daughter and My Dear Hamilton. I think I had the germ of the idea for a Lafayette novel at least seven years ago, but I had other projects in the way. And I was always in search of an angle that would be fresh and unique. That came to me when I discovered that Lafayette's castle in Auvergne, which had been purchased and renovated by Americans, served to shelter Jewish children from the Nazis. Knowing how deeply the Lafayettes both felt about religious freedom, I knew this would have pleased them, and it touched me. I was then determined to know which Americans had purchased the chateau, and when I found out, yet another glorious chapter in the Lafayette legacy was born. That's when the story took shape for me about one special place on this earth where, generation after generation, faith has been kept with principles of liberty and humanity. I find that very inspirational, now more than ever.

The book is centered around Lafayette’s castle, the Château de Chavaniac, and the pivotal role it played during three of history’s darkest hours—the French Revolution and both World Wars. If you could have dinner with any three people (dead or alive) at Chavaniac, who would you choose and why?

Believe it or not, this is actually a difficult choice because so many incredible men and women passed through those doors. I'd have to start with the Lafayettes--though I hope they would not serve me pigeons, which were a favorite at their wedding banquet. To join us for dinner, I'd choose the colorful stage-star of the Belle Epoque, Beatrice Chanler, because she was a force of nature without whom Chavaniac might not still be standing. Actress, artist, philanthropist, decorated war-relief worker and so-called Queen of the Social Register, she was as mysterious as she was wonderful, and even after all the startling discoveries I made researching her larger-than-life existence, I have a million questions about the early life she tried so hard to hide. I can't wait for readers to meet her!

[booksonghighlights]

An excerpt from My Dear Hamilton

[Narrated by Eliza]

“I am not mad.”

“No?” I asked, thinking his behavior erratic. To prove it, I held up three different scribblings I’d found on his desk. 

“What do I see here? An essay in defense of the Jay Treaty that you wrote for the papers under one pen name. A second, written under a different name in which you anonymously praise yourself for writing the first. And then a raving third, pretending to add to the imaginary choir! It’s madness.”

“I am not mad,” he repeated, kicking at a bit of straw on the floor.

- My Dear Hamilton, Stephanie Dray 

(anyone who is hamiltrash like me pls read this book)