“With Love, Aunt Eleanor” by
Eleanor Roosevelt II
Reviewed by Dorothy Davis
This is escape reading
at its best. So stretch out under the beach umbrella or curl
up in an easy chair with this beautifully designed facsimile
of a family scrapbook. Enjoy imagining yourself to be the
beloved niece of the First Lady of the World, and a member
of one of America’s oldest
and finest families—the Roosevelts.
Arranged chronologically,
each sepia tinged double page features a charmingly written
memoir on the left-hand page and, on the right, family photos,
clippings, memorabilia or delightful line drawings by the
author, as well as a timeline of historical anecdotes or
pertinent quotes. One quote, from Eleanor Roosevelt, for
example, is, “It is not more vacation
we need—it is more vocation.” And another: “She
would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her
glow has warmed the world.” It is obvious that a lot
of love and care went into creating this book.
In the first section, “The Early Days” is
an article called “The Shy Debutante”. Eleanor,
who was tall (six feet) and painfully shy, dreaded going to
the Cotillion, but “she was surprised when at the very
first dance, a distant cousin—Franklin D. Roosevelt—wrote
in her dance card. He even asked her for a second dance.” On
the right hand page is Eleanor’s coming-out photo, 1902,
and a snapshot of Eleanor and her beloved Franklin, with his
mother, Sara Delano, standing between them. Three anecdotes
to the far right tell about historical and personal events
of the time, beginning with “At Allenswood School in
England, only French is spoken. When Eleanor uses an English
word, she is expected to report herself to the headmistress,
and she does.”
In “The White House Years” an essay
tells of “Water Polo with Uncle Franklin”. The
game was a “free-for-all” and the pool “a
mass of foamy waves and loud, triumphant or not-so triumphant
shouts as we all tried to catch the ball and keep it from my
uncle, which was an almost impossible feat.”
In “Life After Franklin” “The
Declaration of Human Rights” reveals Eleanor Roosevelt’s
unique way of celebrating her major achievement—the completion
of a world bill of rights by an 18-nation commission, which
she chaired, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
It was better than “a glass of champagne at a party.” She
ran and slid down the polished marble floor, in her leather-soled
shoes, arms out “in triumph. It was so much fun that
she did it again.”
Other reminiscences
tell humorously of visits to Eleanor’s Hyde Park home, Val-Kill Cottage, by world
figures such as Nikita Khrushchev and Haile Selassie, annual
summer picnics for the entire Wiltwyck School, New York’s
school for troubled boys, which was nearby, and joyous and
funny picnics, outings and holidays with family and friends.
There are sad and insightful
chapters too—about,
for example, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s difficult
marriage, and a particularly moving one on the death from alcoholism
of Eleanor’s brother, Hall, the author’s father,
mirroring the death of Eleanor and Hall’s own father,
who died of the same disease years earlier.
But most of the book
contains amusing stories about such things as Eleanor’s German shepherd, Prince,
who was fond of tearing pieces of pant legs off White House
visitors; her questionable driving skills; her nearly indecipherable
handwriting (samples included); the controversial picnic she
served to the king and queen of England; and the one dish she
knew how to cook—scrambled eggs.
This is a special book,
an affectionate portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the
major figures of the 20th Century, by a family member who
generously shares her personal knowledge and insights about
her aunt, gleaned over their close 42-year long relationship.
After reading this book you feel as though you personally
knew this famous woman too. It is an unforgettable, warmly
human portrait. Eleanor Roosevelt II writes of her aunt in
her preface, “it has always
been a privilege to be her niece.” Having read this book
I am sure that Eleanor Roosevelt would have replied that it
was a privilege to be her aunt.#
Click Here for our interview with the
author.
