The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Sarah Bates - GIVEAWAY!

4 Stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK -
From award winning author, Sarah Bates, Johnstown, New York, 1823: It is a time when a wife’s dowry, even children, automatically becomes her husband’s property. Slavery is an economic advantage entrenched in America but rumblings of abolition abound.

For Elizabeth Cady to confront this culture is unheard of, yet that is exactly what she does. Before she can become a leader of the women’s rights movement and prominent abolitionist, she faces challenges fraught with disappointment. Her father admires her intellect but says a woman cannot aspire to the goals of men. Her sister’s husband becomes her champion–but secretly wants more. Religious fervor threatens to consume her.

As she faces depression and despair, she records these struggles and other dark confidences in diaries. When she learns the journals might fall into the wrong hands and discredit her, she panics and rips out pages of entries that might destroy her hard-fought reputation. Relieved, she believes they are lost to history forever.

But are they? Travel with Elizabeth into American history and discover a young woman truly ahead of her time.

*** Look for an excerpt at the very bottom!
 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR -

Sarah Bates worked as an advertising copywriter for ten years then as a freelance writer.  Her clients included a book packager, the local chamber of commerce, a travel newsletter and a weekly newspaper where she covered business and schools.

Her short fiction has appeared in the Greenwich Village Literary Review, the San Diego North County Times (now the Union-Tribune) and the literary magazine Bravura. She is the author of Twenty-One Steps of Courage, an Army action novel published in 2012 and co-author of the 2005 short story collection, Out of Our Minds, Wild Stories by Wild Women.

She is the winner of Military Category, for Twenty-One Steps of Courage, Next Generation Indie Book Awards (2013) and 2nd Place Finalist, The Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Unpublished Novel- Category, San Diego Book Awards (2015)

Bates was an English Department writing tutor at Palomar College in California for ten years. She continues to privately tutor both academic and creative writing students and is writing a new novel. Sarah Bates lives in Fallbrook, California.

Website: http://www.sarahbatesauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bateswriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahbatesauthor/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108133638718869926894/posts

MY THOUGHTS -
I love books like this. When a real person from history is put into fiction. It seems real enough and gives you a good account of what their like could have been like. 
This was a very interesting read. In the beginning it was a little slow for me because she was a young girl, but started picking up as she got older.

I was very excited to get this book because I have always been interested in Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I grew up, lived, married, and raised my daughter just 30 miles from Seneca falls! Which is where all the Women's right movement happened. I have been there - took my daughter to see the Woman's rights park and the very building where they had the meetings. It was very emotional to say the least! We read the declaration (which is on a wall with water running over it) together with tears in our eyes. I told my teen daughter then - Life for us would not be the same if all this had not happened. Can you even imagine? For us, for women, this was probably one of the most significant events in history! And it all started with the dreams of a very young girl, Elizabeth Cady Stanton! Its too bad Hillary didn't win :-(  that would have been the second biggest for women! I am sure Elizabeth would be proud of her.
I have posted some pictures at the end of my daughter (she is now 28) and I visiting the Woman's rights park

Getting back to the book! LOL 
So, yes, this is fiction not a Bio. but it is fun and very interesting to read. And I think for a woman, very important to read. If you are interested in American history or Women's history at all you should read this!

I voluntarily posted this review after receiving this book from  Virtual Author Book Tours. Thank you!

GIVEAWAY!
This if for an e-copy (PDF, epub, and mobi)
 
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Going through all these pics again just brings tears to my eyes! That was one of our best mother daughter days!


AND... here is an EXCERPT! -

 Lost Diaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton Excerpt, page 295-299 (892 words)
Elizabeth’s school chum Amy Lee Berkeley has written that she needs to talk to her when she and her husband pass through town. The visit is unexpected and Elizabeth is curious. The travelers have arrived.
    “Mr. Berkeley, what is your occupation?” Elizabeth asked.
    “Finance.”
    Amy Lee rolled her eyes. “Bank of the United States,” she said adding, “His father got him the job, but it is a good one. Finance indeed, Davison.”
    The young man blushed, making his skin almost purple.
    “That is a fine occupation, Mr. Berkeley,” Judge Cady said. “Next to the law, that is,” he added in a perfunctory way.
    An uneasy silence followed his remark.
    “Father,” Elizabeth said. “Not everyone can be a lawyer.”
    “Sorry. My attempt at humor is not successful,” Judge Cady said and then apologized to Mr. Berkley.
    “Perfectly fine. If I did not have a career in finance it could easily have been the law, or engineering. I attended Rensselaer and quite enjoyed building things.”
    “The boys at Rensselaer courted many of Emma Willard’s girls,” Elizabeth said.
    “Like me,” Amy Lee said. “And look where it got me.” She glanced at her husband, her expression cheerless.
    Mr. Berkeley choked on his drink and began to cough. His face grew redder.
    Judge Cady jumped up to pound the young man on the back. “You all right?” he asked. “Mother, ring for a glass of water.”
    By the time Mr. Berkeley recovered, the tension caused by his wife’s remark had eased.
     “Come, let us get you settled into your rooms,” Elizabeth said in a hearty way, hoping to change the atmosphere.
    That evening, with Kate at the supper table adding her youthful exuberance, the conversation flew. It changed from topic to topic with energy and excitement, Mr. Berkeley’s remarks growing more boisterous with each glass of wine. Finally, with a knowing look at his wife, Judge Cady motioned to a servant to remove the wine bottles.
    Much later after everyone retired, Elizabeth answered a knock at her bedroom door. Amy Lee stood outside with her silk dressing gown pulled tight across her belly.
    “Are you unwell?” Elizabeth asked, fearing the doctor might be needed if the baby’s birth proved imminent.
    “Oh, no. I cannot sleep. This child is kicking me so. I thought perhaps we might finally talk a bit. May we?” Amy Lee asked. Tears filled her eyes.
    Elizabeth opened the door wide and then grabbed her friend’s hand to guide her to a sofa in front of the small blaze in her fireplace. She handed Amy Lee a clean handkerchief from her pocket.
    “Whatever is wrong?” Elizabeth asked. Her expression softened. She reached to hold Amy Lee’s hands in her own.
    “I should not have married Mr. Berkeley. Now I have this.” She tore her hands from Elizabeth’s grasp and placed them on her belly.
    “But you told me that being married with babies would fulfill your fondest dreams. At school you were the most sure of all of us.”
    “I thought marriage would be everything I ever wanted,” Amy Lee said. “It is not and now I am trapped.”
    “Your husband seems like such a good sort, smart and charming,” Elizabeth said. “Is he not perfect?”
    “It is a charade,” Amy Lee responded. “Here, with your family and especially your father, he is motivated to be on his best behavior. With just me, and the servants, he is unkind and demanding.”
    “Surely you must have suspected this? Did you not court for months?”
    “We did, but I was blind to his true self. He wooed me in a most earnest manner with flowers, lovely gifts. His behavior with my mother was impeccable too.”
    “When did he reveal his real personality?” Elizabeth asked.
    “At first he merely grew distant,” Amy Lee said. “Pleading he needed time alone. So I agreed. But when I realized I was with child his attitude turned dark and hateful.”
    “I am so sorry.”
    “He beat our Negro groom when the poor man failed to bring his horse to the gate at the precise time he asked. The groom explained the blacksmith had needed to finish shoeing the horse, but Davison’s tirade and abuse did not stop. That is just one of many incidents.”
    “My dear friend, I am so sorry for your dilemma. How can I help you?”
    “I will not raise a child with this man. Would you ask your father if he would preside over my divorce from Mr. Berkeley?”
    To gather her thoughts, Elizabeth glanced out the window at the flickering gas lamps on the snowy street. Amy Lee has no idea what her life will be like. Her dowry will be gone. Her husband could take the child. Divorce is so perilous and fraught with unexpected hardships for women. These were serious issues her father would discuss, but Elizabeth knew he would help if he could. Finally, she said, “If this is truly your wish, then I shall ask him.”
    With relief Amy Lee’s expression of sorrow changed to joy.
    “You leave tomorrow so you must speak to my father in the morning. I will talk to him before breakfast to prepare him, for you should discuss this before you depart.”
    Amy Lee embraced Elizabeth.
    “Thank you so much. I will be ready.”
    “And Mr. Berkeley? What of him?” Elizabeth asked.
    “I doubt he will be surprised. He might even be grateful. He has plenty of money, so he does not need me for anything really. I believe he married me to please his father because of my family connections.”