History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

      Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Christopher Leahy and Sharon Williams Leahy. They have recently published  Presidentess , which is a biography of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler. In this interview, we discussed why Julia Gardiner Tyler was considered America's most controversial First Lady. We also discussed what impact Julia Gardiner Tyler played in shaping the role of First Lady. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Leahy! Why is Julia Gardiner Tyler considered a controversial First Lady? Sharon: Julia was a woman of striking contradictions. She was innovative and influential as First Lady, but after her time in the White House, she adapted to the slaveholding society of Virginia. She publicly pushed back against British criticism of the American slave system.  During the Civil War, her private correspondence also reveals strong Confederate sympathies.  We wanted to tell the whole story of her accomplishments, as well as the beliefs and choices that ...

  Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Author: Christopher J. Leahy & Sharon Williams Leahy Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography  Publisher: University Press of Kansas Publication Date: September 29, 2026 Pages: 573 Source: This book was given to me by the publicist in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The first full biography of the controversial and complex First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler—an unjustly scandalized New Yorker, the second wife to President John Tyler, and a savvy and consequential political figure in the age of the Civil War.         Myths, rumors, and gossip have long circulated around First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler. Commonly believed to be politically insignificant, most of our fascination with Tyler surrounds her reputation as a highly desired superficial flirt. This salacious mythos was based on her status in a politically influential New York family and the popular rumor that she posed for ...

The Intimate Afterlife of Myth: Ancient Stories for the Inner Life Author: Venus Gunyeli Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Religion, Mythology Publisher: Venus Gunyeli Book Release Date: August 14, 2026 Pages: 132 Source: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : MYTH IS NOT OVER.         It survives in the choices we repeat, the losses we carry, and the questions that return when certainty gives way.         What if the figures of myth were not distant symbols, but lives we could approach more closely—lives shaped by love and loyalty, power and error, grief and change?         The Intimate Afterlife of Myth revisits ten Greek and Mesopotamian myths, from Persephone and Gilgamesh to Inanna, Psyche, Hector, and Prometheus. Rather than reducing them to simple lessons or fixed interpretations, the book stays with the psychologi...

Santiaga: A Freedom Tale Author: Alexandra Anton Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: A Sweet House  Book Release Date: August 11, 2026 Pages: 186 Source: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : What if motherhood asked for everything — but your soul asked for more?        Santiaga: A Freedom Tale is a spiritual journey novel about motherhood and a woman’s spiritual awakening, following a young woman who walks away from her hometown with unanswered questions in search of meaning. Drawn to a remote spiritual community in the mountains, Santiaga believes that devotion — to a guru, a doctrine, a man — will make her whole. Along the way, she meets a vivid chain of seekers and charlatans—each offering a different promise of fulfillment, each reflecting a different illusion.         As her restlessness continues, she realizes no one can fill the emptiness she feels inside ...

Lady of the Castle (The Nicola de la Haye Series #2) Author: Rachel Elwiss Joyce Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Hedgehog Books  Book Release Date: September 21, 2026 Pages: 598 Source: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis : For a woman, holding power in a man's world is dangerous; holding faith in an intolerant one is deadly.        England, 1185. Nicola de la Haye, constable of Lincoln Castle, commands her fortress with hard-won authority. Determined to protect her family from a kingdom fracturing around her, she discovers the hardest battle is the one inside her own walls.       When the king's chancellor marches an army to her gates and her husband stands accused of treason, Nicola must hold her castle against a siege—and hold her family together against something far harder to fight. As her marriage buckles under the weight of loss, jealousy, and the gho...

Lady of Lincoln (The Nicola de la Haye Series #1) Author: Rachel Elwiss Joyce Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Hedgehog Books  Book Release Date: February 27, 2026 Pages: 464 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A true story. A forgotten heroine. In a time when women were told to stay silent, could she become the saviour her people need?      12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she’s taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king’s blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight.         Harshly fined by Henry II for her unsanctioned union, Nicola struggles to salvage her estates while dealing with devastating betrayals from her husband… and his choice to join rebels...