“Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker” by Jennifer Chiaverini – A New Perspective

Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker (Book cover)
Though it seems as if the subject of the Lincoln presidency has been covered in all of its aspects from A to Z, there are still some out there who are trying to find new perspectives to give on this extraordinary journey through life.

In Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker Jennifer Chiaverini attempts to do just that by presenting us the point of view entertained by Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave who was a seamstress in the White House.

After gaining her freedom, Keckley formed a rather interesting and lifelong bond with Lincoln’s wife, becoming the First Lady’s trusted confidant in the process. This is the story of the Lincoln presidency as told through the eyes of Keckley, and touches upon the events which took place later in her life.

When seen by itself, this book is rather solid in all aspects. It presents us with a fresh and rather underexplored viewpoint of the whole presidency thing, and does give us some new details and information about the events which transpired during that time as well as the motivation which led to them. This outsider’s perspective will be very interesting to those who have just begun their exploration of Lincoln’s life… however, in my opinion there is a large problem with this book.

Elizabeth Keckley, as it happens, wrote her own autobiography… from which this book heavily “borrows” without giving credit to the original source. Some of the passages here are actually directly copied from Keckley’s memoir, and no credit to her is given… and when I say copied, I mean word for word.

By itself, this book can be an enjoyable and educative experience… however, it seems to me that it is an exercise in plagiarism, especially seeing as how the only real new information Chiaverini added was about the events which transpired later in Keckley’s life.

As decent of a book as I think this is, it would go against my morals and better judgment to recommend it to anyone interested in the subject; plagiarism is despicable and never the way to go.


Jennifer Chiaverini (1969)

Jennifer Chiaverini


Jennifer Chiaverini is a quilter and writer of American nationality whose best known works are the Elm Creek Quilts novels. She graduated from the Universities of Notre Dame and Chicago and was a writing instructor at Penn State and Edgewood College, and also wrote four volumes on quilt patterns inspired by her novels.

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