'I spy with my little eye, where the bird goes when he doesn't fly,' Mama said one mid-day, her words floating on the Richmond heat as we carried empty cookpots through the yard to the kitchen. Mama, your little girl is all grown up, and still playing our best game. I am a spy . . . Mary Bowser was born a slave. She was freed and educated. Then she willingly went back into slavery . . . As the American Civil War looms, Mary gives up her independence and returns to her home state. There she poses as an illiterate slave in the Confederate White House and spies on President Jefferson Davis. But as the death and destruction of war take their toll, Mary discovers that everything comes at a cost--even freedom. Based on a true story, The Secrets of Mary Bowser is an extraordinary and inspiring tale of injustice and courage, friendship and conflict--and of one woman willing to sacrifice her own liberty to change the course of history.
About the Author
Award-winning author Lois Leveen dwells in the spaces where literature and history meet. A confirmed book geek, Lois earned degrees in history and literature from Harvard, the University of Southern California, and UCLA, and taught at UCLA and at Reed College. In addition to her novels JULIET'S NURSE and THE SECRETS OF MARY BOWSER, she has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Wall Street Journal, and her poetry and essays have appeared in numerous books, literary journals, and on NPR. Lois gives talks about history and literature at libraries, bookstores, universities, museums, teacher training programs, and conferences throughout the world. She lives in a bright green house in Portland, Oregon, with a charming, bipedal Newfoundlander.
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