Presidents Lady : A Novel About Rachel And Andrew Jackson

Two hundred years ago, Tennessee was the Wild West and the law was frequently determined by intimidation. Set against such a background, the story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson is one of the greatest love stories in American history.

In 1784, seventeen-year-old Rachel Donelson fell in love with war hero Capt. Lewis Robards. Their marriage was brief, stormy, and bitter. Because there was no such thing as divorce on the Kentucky-Tennessee frontier, Rachel appeared doomed to live the rest of her days without love or husband. Then, in her mother’s house she warmed to respect and admiration of a tall, gangling, fiery boarder —- Andrew Jackson.

Rachel and Andrew were soon deeply in love and after a difficult courtship, haunted by Captain Robards, they married under the laws of the Spanish, who governed New Orleans and Natchez. They eventually settled in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jackson became a hero of the War of 1812 and was later elected to the U.S. presidency, but he could never conquer the unending attacks on his beloved wife. Although his political enemies used Rachel’s troubled background as a campaign issue, they could not destroy her love for Andrew nor his for her.

Irving Stone brings to life a tender and poignant love story centered on one of the most controversial and amazing dramas that ever engulfed an American woman.