The General’s Women is the story of General Dwight Eisenhower’s love affair with his chauffeur Kay Summersby during the height of World War Two. The other woman was his wife Mamie. This is a thoughtful, unsensational novel which examines the stress Ike was under as he led the Allied forces and how Kay helped him cope. The sexual aspect of their affair was secondary to the deep empathy they felt for each other because of the events each had to live through.

Before becoming Ike’s driver in London, Kay drove an ambulance during the worst periods of the Blitz. She had to deal with transporting the severely injured and dying patients to hospitals so she understood his feelings about sending young men to their deaths. She also understood that Ike needed an escape valve and short intervals when he could unwind and try to recharge before the next decision had to be made. So it was Kay who realized that the pomp of the other commanders was not Ike’s style. He disliked his living quarters in the mansions of the nobility so Kay found the small cottage not far from Allied Headquarters where he and his personal staff, including Kay, could retreat for the weekends and play cards, ride horses, and generally unwind. She steadied him.

Mamie was living stateside. She could have, but did not, join her husband in England. She had been diagnosed with a heart problem and used this reason to remain in America. Here she had her coteries of friends who could support her. The author is critical of the future First Lady stressing her overindulgences. Mamie slept until noon, never cooked or kept house, and used her delicate health to avoid flying or traveling with her husband. She was not interested in his day-to-day activities and emphatically told him that the “generaling” stopped at the front door and she would have no discussion of his work in the house. Later, when Ike was President she visited him in the Oval Office less than ten times in eight years. Ironically, she outlived both her husband and the other woman

The Eisenhower/Summersby relationship was doomed. In another time, Ike could have divorced Mamie and married the woman he cared for. But not in the 1940’s or even the 1950’s.

Albert presents a very sympathetic view of the main characters. There are no villains, just people trying to find some balance in chaos. These were mature adults (Kay was in her mid thirties and Ike seventeen years older). It was an interlude that had to end and it did. Ike went back to Mamie and Kay married. They had little contact after the war and only now, seventy years after the end of their affair, can it be viewed without judgment.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the Independent Book Publishers Association(BPA) for the ARC of "The General's Women" by Susan Wittig Albert, for my honest review. "The genre of "The General's Women" is historical fiction.
The author writes about General Dwight Eisenhower during the timeline of World War Two when American entered the war, with England, and Europe. I find that the author describes General Dwight Eisenhower as dedicated, hardworking, an organizer, and a planner. The General is very stressed and to alleviate it, likes to play golf, bridge. ride horses and loves dogs.
The author in setting the story introduces us to Kay Summersby, an Irish volunteer driver in London, who is assigned to drive Eisenhower around. Kay Summersby at the time is getting divorced and planning to marry an American, who is also getting a divorce. Kay has driven ambulances during the bombings in London, and is adept in driving in darkened damaged streets. Dwight becomes dependent on Kay's ability as a driver, and enjoys her company.
The author also describes Mamie Eisenhower,who is in Washington as a jealous, overbearing, insecure and manipulating wife. Mamie is portrayed as constantly tired and at times is physically weak. Mamie is proud of her husband, but really isn't involved with the wartime secrets. Mamie is extremely jealous.
Eisenhower and Kay become friends, and companions. Dwight is always busy, but when he has free time, he rides horses, or plays bridge with Kay. Kay becomes more than a driver and assists in the offices,responding to certain letters, and setting up activities for the men.
When Mamie sees a picture in Life Magazine of Dwight with his team, Kay included, she is furious. Mamie's social circle of friends constantly add to Mamie's frustration.
Susan Wittig Albert describes Eisenhower and Kay's friendship to more like an "affair" during this time. She bases this on" "Kay's Memoirs","Ikes" letters", and fellow officers wartime diaries",as well as news clippings."
We do know that after the war Eisenhower becomes president and is with Mamie. I did enjoy this novel of" The General's Women" and would recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction.

This historical fiction novel focuses on the war years and General Dwight Eisenhower and the 2 women in his life. Mamie, his wife, is viewed as delicate and is left in the United States away from the action and General Eisenhower’s life. Kay Summersby, General Eisenhower’s British driver, was part of his daily life during the war years. Kay and General Eisenhower became close as they face the war but how close have they become and what happens after the war? This delves into the question of what really happened between General Eisenhower and Kay Summersby during the war. Fascinating and imminently readable.

Fiction - Told from three points of view this is a well researched book of the relationships between Eisenhower and his wife and Eisenhower and his driver/lover. It is right on the edge of non-fiction with all the facts, people and historical events that are so elegantly told in this book. I have to admit that I am a bit of a history buff and this book totally fit that need without some of the dryness you read in a lot of non-fiction or the unbelievability to see in some historical fiction. Definite 4 out of 5 stars. I was slightly disappointed with the ending chapters because of their brevity - the rest the book is so rich that I felt the ending was a little lacking the same "feel". As a whole this is a wonderful book!

A fabulous read. I didn't know very much about Einshower before reading this book but I was utterly compelled by the realistic story of his and kays affair. Really interesting!

Sorry this is not a book that I would request to read. I am unsure as to why or how it ended up on my dashboard for review

I wanted to read this book ever since I read that Susan Wittig Albert was writing a book about Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby. I have previously read Loving Eleanor and A Wilder Rose by the author and I love how she can write about real life people and making them come alive and I'm happy to say that she has once again managed to do that with The General's Women.

It's not only the people that she manages to portray in an authentic way, Wittig Albert has a knack for writing about the time and milieu that makes it feel like you are both learning more about the period at the same time you are enjoying the story. In The General's Women is the focus heavy on WW2 and I loved reading this book because not only did I get a vivid description of the people of the time, but I also got to follow the war from a close perspective as Kay Summersby followed Ike to North Africa.

This book is not heavy on the romance. Sure there are special moments between Ike and Key in the book, but it's not a saccharine kind of romance. I mean Key was not at all pleased when she first had to drive Ike, he was only a two-star general and Ike in return was displeased with her being late to pick him up with the car (all because she had to eat). But, then as the story progressed one could see how they started to warm up to each other. I like that Wittig Albert also included Mamie's POV, and I found it interesting to learn more about her, her devotion to Ike and her jealousy towards women in his life.

The General's Women is an engrossing book to read and I loved reading about Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby. I think the best romance stories are the ones that are real and I do have a weakness for doomed romances.

This is the story of Dwight Eisenhower during the war. How he met Kay Summersby and how their relationship changed as the war moved along. There is a mix of fact & fiction to the story. The story tells how Mamie at home heard stories and how hard that was for her. The story flows well and is very interesting. There are some factious characters in the story so you have to wonder at times what is real and what is not but it flows so well that you won't care as the story is too good to care.

Ike and his female English driver. Did he have an affair with her or was it just a light wartime romance?I remember my Washington-connected great aunt talking about this WWII "scandal..' It was great to have it novelized.. Although this book clearly favors one of the General's women--his driver/secretary, Kay Summersby--his long-suffering wife, Mamie, is presented as a not entirely unsympathetic person. Susan Wittig Albert also includes accurate and detailed descriptions of the WWII battles--the ones in which Ike participated (North Africa) as well as those he commanded (Overlord)--as part of this well researched and beautifully written book.

As a lover of both biography and historical fiction, I was incredibly interested to read this account of the love affair between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Kay Summersby. Known the world over as a stoic, modest leader it humanizes the former president in a way that many accounts cannot. The author has clearly worked tirelessly to research not only Mrs. Summersby's life, but also her final days to try and bring as much of the truth to light as possible despite the lengths that history has gone to bury her and her story.

There are some blemishes on the book that I found glaring, but some of this can be forgiven and indeed apologies are made for artistic license in the Author's Notes. I found a fair few grammatical errors and misspellings throughout the text that I felt could have been easily sorted. Most distressing for me though, were the chapters on Mamie Eisenhower. The narrative, switching between perspectives of the General and Kay, then putting us with Mamie during the same time frame, would have been sound but it quickly became apparent that not much is known, or at least proven, about Mrs. Eisenhower during that time. Some chapters simply repeat most of what we've just learned about Ike and Kay from the chapter preceding it, turns of phrase and all. The repetition in describing these character actions and interactions can be tedious as an obvious bid to pad out the text. I do understand though, again from reading the Author's Notes at the end of the book, that beyond the accepted public persona, information about what Mamie really got up to is closely guarded by the Eisenhower family and in fact none of her own letters to her husband were ever published. The truth about how Mamie felt about these years may never be known, and certainly whatever she said to her husband is not from their private letters. I suppose I just think if this is the case that the book may have been better served not using Mamie as such a central character, as there was plenty of interesting material about the General himself, his aide, and their extended 'family'. Mamie's chapters by comparison are very weak with the obvious lack of concrete information to rely on.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it made me incredibly sympathetic towards this brave woman who fought so hard and gave up so much. It's wonderful that her story, her real story with the man she seemed to truly love right to the end of her life, is finally told.