My Dear Hamilton is the story of Eliza Hamilton, one of the Founding Mothers of the United States and wife to Revolutionary War hero and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. This is an historical fiction novel, not a biography, so not all of the details are accurate. However, there seems to be a consensus among writers that the craziest parts of historical fiction novels are the true parts. With that in mind, Eliza tells her story in relation to her husband, “the $10 Founding Father without a father.” (Hamilton: An American Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda)
Betsy Schuyler was the daughter of General Phillip Schuyler of the Continental Army. She met Alexander Hamilton during the winter of 1780, in an under-provisioned Continental camp in New Jersey. Betsy worked with her uncle to help as many American soldiers as possible. After Betsy and Alexander married they lived in a simple home near General Washington so Hamilton could continue his work as aide de camp. After the war, the couple moved back and forth between New York City and Philadelphia, depending on where Hamilton was needed.
Eliza (still going by Betsy, her childhood nickname) gave birth to nine children. Because of her husband's history as an orphan, she agreed to adopt a friend's daughter and foster another's son during difficult times for her family, both emotional and financial. She watched her husband make questionable decisions and was publicly humiliated by her husband's affair, which is considered the first sex scandal in American politics. She lived for almost a hundred years but she lost three children, two sisters, both her parents, and her husband within a decade.
Eliza Hamilton was a strong woman who we don't know nearly enough about, but this book is a start. Thanks to Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical, everyone knows who Eliza was, but we still don't know who she really was, at the core of her being. This book is obviously well-researched and extremely well-written. I enjoyed seeing what I know from Miranda's musical from Eliza's perspective. I also liked the personal spiritual crises Eliza found herself in throughout the novel; whether it was her views on slavery in her own life versus the country as a whole or coming to terms with her husband's betrayal of their marriage vows, I felt like I was right there feeling everything she may have felt.
I was excited to read this book for three reasons. I read America's First Daughter, the first novel co-authored by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, and loved it. I'm also a huge musical theatre geek and I know all of the lyric's to Miranda's musical. (My 4yo knows a few lyrics himself!) I've already recommended this book to five people and I'm sure I won't stop there. My final reason is the American Revolution has always been the only war I've ever been interested in.
