A Lesser Mortal is a biography of Sarah B. Cochran, the coal mogul. The novel is an inspiring read about how a woman built an empire in a male-dominated world.

Few people will have heard of Sarah B Cochran, but she was a remarkable woman and led a remarkable life for the times she lived in (1857-1936), a time when women had little power and influence. When her husband died and then shortly after she lost her only son as well, she stepped in and took over the extensive coal and coke business she inherited and went on to become one of the wealthiest women on the east coast of America. She became a notable philanthropist and involved herself in many worthy causes, becoming a trustee of various institutions, all of which she supported wholeheartedly. Author Kimberly Hess has done her best to unearth as much information as possible from the surviving documentation, but unfortunately Cochran left no first hand record and thus we cannot hear her voice, or truly get to know her, and the general lack of hard evidence means that that much of the book is conjecture. The text is littered with possibly, probably, might have, could have, and so on and this becomes tedious. Conjecture is sometimes necessary in any biography but here it dominates. Although this is a valuable contribution to women’s studies, I found it neither entertaining nor enjoyable as a biography and it failed to hold my attention. A worthy effort, however, and yet another woman’s life has been brought out from obscurity, for which we must be grateful.

this was a really well done biography, I hadn't really heard of this person before. I really enjoyed reading about Sarah B. Cochran's life.

A fairly decent read.. though I found it a bit slow to my liking. i wold still recommend it for a one time read.

Its the narrative of Sarah B. Cochran. Who probably didn’t expect to own businesses that competed with Henry Clay Frick’s or to exceed Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic giving in certain circles.

But fate strikes and she loses her husband and son suddenly. She then takes over the family coal and coke business at a time when it was illegal, and some thought unlucky, for women to work in or around coal mines.

Today, her contributions can be difficult to identify without already knowing they exist. I love the depiction of grit and determination portrayed. It got me inspired and thinking as to would I also be able t achieve all that she has achieved?