I didn’t know anything about John Wilkes Booth apart from the fact that he assassinated Abraham Lincoln, so Booth was an informative as well as an intriguing novel. Karen Joy Fowler’s focus is not on John himself, but on his family. What did it mean to them to be forever associated with a notorious killer?

Booth begins as John’s parents set up home in a remote farm in Maryland. They have married in England and Junius Booth has neglected to tell his bride, Mary Ann Holmes, where she is going to have to live. He is a successful actor and spends most of his life touring and performing Shakespeare, while she is left to tend the farm with his father (who has a lot to say but doesn’t contribute much). She gives birth to ten children and suffers the loss of many in childhood.

The narrative moves seamlessly between voices. There is an omniscient narrator, situating the story of the family in the historical context, and opening each chapter with vignettes from Lincoln’s life. This gives the sense of the two men moving inexorably closer, while also confining John to the margins – we are some way into the novel before he is even born. This is contrasted with the immediate and subjective voices of a number of John’s siblings, telling their own story, offering glimpses of John from childhood onwards.

Most poignant for me is Rosalie, the eldest daughter. She is haunted by the ghosts of her dead siblings, while also being forced to take responsibility not only for the surviving children but for her distraught mother. She begins as a thoughtful, perceptive child but her identity is steadily erased in adulthood and she finds herself moving between relatives, with no choice or autonomy. (An author’s note indicates that Fowler had to invent more with Rosalie than the other characters as there is so little source material about her.)

By contrast, the young Edwin, who is also sensitive and insightful, is forced into caring for his father as he tours the theatrical circuit. Junius’s erratic temper and alcohol consumption threaten to overshadow his performances. However, Edwin later escapes and enjoys success and acclaim as an actor himself (though he pays a price).


Junius Booth is both a dominant figure and an absent one. He is a political radical, a vegetarian, a man of creative flair and periods of instability, perhaps brought on by grief at the losses he experiences. The family quote Shakespeare at each other and three of the sons, including John, become actors. Within the frame of the novel, it is both surprising and understandable that John is pro-secession and pro-slavery, putting him at odds with the values of the rest of his family, while still retaining their affection.

Fowler shows how slavery in Maryland, while less overtly brutal than in some states, had other cruel impacts. The Booths employ a free black man, Joe Hall. His wife, Ann, is a slave on a neighbouring farm but is allowed to come and work for the Booths and earn money. Their children are born as slaves but they hope to save enough to buy both their freedom and Ann’s. Many families were in this position, parents, unable to buy all their children, forced to choose between siblings, those siblings growing up divided by their different fates.

Civil war and disorder come ever closer to home for the Booths, and we see events through the eyes of John’s siblings. Fowler keeps the story suspenseful – we know what will happen but not how it unfolds.

Booth is an interesting telling of the story of a family, from the domestic details of births, marriages, sibling rivalries, grief and joy, to the wider historical context and the factors that led to John’s increasing political estrangement from his family, even while they remained close.

John remains elusive, almost as ghostly as his dead siblings. The aftermath of the assassination, and its effect on his family, suggests his behaviour is as disturbing and incomprehensible to them as to the world.
*
I received a copy of Booth from the publisher via NetGalley.

📚 r e v i e w 📚
Booth - Karen Joy Fowler

If you’re anything like me, you’ll love a good historical fiction and specifically, you’ll want to read this one - Booth is a historical fiction with difference.
While you might think this is a novel about John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, this is actually so much more.
Rather than being Booth’s life story, Karen Joy Fowler focuses on Booth’s parents and siblings, barely even drawing attention to the assassin (as she says: he’s a man who craved attention and has gotten too much of it - here here!), which is interspersed with snippets of Lincoln’s story and writings ans seeing the similarities between the two men was fascinating.
It was interesting to read more about a family in this time period and about how celebrity worked back then - many of the Booth men were famous actors after all.

I did initally pick this up because I was interested to find out more about Booth and Lincoln, so the fact that the book focused more on Booth’s family than him was a bit of a surprise to me, but it didnt hamper my enjoyment. Booth is well paced and meticulously researched with brilliant characterisations and a real grasp of the time period.
I’ve not read any of her books before, but I’ll be adding them all to my tbr. Many thanks to @netgalley for the early copy - Booth is out now.

Just some cw for you: child death, alcoholism, bigamy and of course there is discussion of the murder of Lincoln so if any of that is difficult for you leave this one for now

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Junius Booth is an acclaimed actor on both sides of the Atlantic. Settled in Baltimore his family of six children has known tragedy and each harbours their own ambitions. However it is Johnny who makes an impact on history when he decides to assassinate the President of the United States.
This is a wonderful book. It is so carefully wrought that I found myself trying to slow down my reading to savour each nuance. The six children each have their own tales and wound around that is the story of the how the United States fell into Civil War and crawled out. Very satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I adored We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, so was intrigued to find that Fowler's new book would be a story about the family of John Wilkes Booth. It would be easy to present an one-sided view of one of America's greatest villains, but by taking the story back into the family history, Fowler creates a balanced and almost sympathetic view of Wilkes Booth's life, giving us the views of his siblings rather than his own story. She also draws parallels between the Civil War period and the current state of American politics, perhaps urging people to examine their own families for these kind of extremist views. Her writing is flawless, as always.

My thanks to Serpent's Tail Viper for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Booth’ by Karen Joy Fowler in exchange for an honest review.

‘Booth’ is a work of historical biographical fiction in which Karen Joy Fowler creates a vivid portrait of the Booth family. She also includes a number of interludes about Abraham Lincoln’s life. Eventually both strands converge at the Ford Theatre on 14 April, 1865. She also considers the impact on the family in the aftermath of the assassination.

The novel opens in 1822 as celebrated Shakespearean actor Junius Brutus Booth abandoned his wife and son and left England with his mistress Mary Ann Holmes. He moved his secret family into a cabin in Maryland. Over the years children arrive one by one, including in 1838 John Wilkes Booth, infamous as the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

Although I was aware that John Wilkes Booth was an actor, I knew very little about his life and nothing about his family. I appreciated how well Karen Joy Fowler presented their lives that included both tragic events as well as the more heartwarming and even comic moments.

In her Historical Notes Fowler details what led her to write this novel. Her focus was upon the wider Booth family and she writes: “how to write the book without centering John Wilkes—is something I grappled with on nearly every page”.

I have enjoyed a few of her earlier novels and considered ‘Booth’ a compelling and well written family saga grounded in solid historical research that also explored the social issues of the time as well as their continuing relevance to the present day.

Definitely recommended.

A fantastic read - really excited to get through this and look forward to rereading. Wonderfully written, witty and enjoyable.

Yes, Booth it is a rather long novel, and yes it is over detailed but it kept me spellbound as no other book did lately. I just couldn't get enough the the story, the character, the writing. Fowler paints a very vivid tableau of the Booth family and in fact of America and a bit of its history. Not only did I enjoy learning about this famous family but I've also learnt a thing or two about American history. It spurred me to research the Booths outside of the book's pages. A truly mesmerising family. Fascinating in their pursuits and their roles in theatre and politics. And yes, I am aware it is ultimately fictions but it is so engrossing to read fictionalised histories of people long gone who otherwise would have been forgotten.

Despite hugely enjoying Fowler’s previous work and despite the fact that it is beautifully crafted, this new release lost my interest almost wholly about halfway through its reading. I can’t put my finger on why precisely but I just found myself not caring about the characters and I felt I knew the story outcome. Being burdened by the confines of history can be stunting and maybe that was it. So with every respect to Fowler, this one sadly just was not for me.

I was offered this book via NetGalley for a review. If I am honest, I really struggled to get through the vast majority of it. The last quarter seemed to go much quicker. I liked the premise but had trouble empathising with any of the characters as they all seemed to be a touch self-pitying and envious no matter what their circumstances. I am glad that I read the Afterword as the character Rosalie was particularly disappointing. Fowler explains that her research only unearthed letters between her siblings who referred to her as 'poor Rose' or 'the invalid sister'. As a disabled person, I would have liked to have seen the author take this freedom as an opportunity to give Rosalie more character (even if it were just within her own internal monologue). Personally I felt that this was just another portrayal of a person with a disability as someone to be pitied and who pities themself. The only positive in this was that at least it came across as a family trait.

This is the story of the family of John Wilkes Booth, notorious as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, although that tragic event only takes place right at the end of the book. Most of the novel deals with his father, iconic touring actor Junius Booth, and the effect his fame and lifestyle had on his wife and children. Rosalie, his eldest daughter, is forced to become the carer of her mother and siblings, spirited but self-centred Asia has aspirations and sons June and Edwin try to follow in his footsteps, with mixed success, but it is charismatic and wilful John who will go down in the annals of history. This book has a great period feel, portraying powerfully the instability and violence of the times. Children die suddenly, fortunes wax and wane, reputations are made and lost. Each of the siblings has their own story to tell, although the second part of the book loses pace rather after the death of the dominant patriarch. Perhaps the most moving part of the story is that of Ann and Joe Hall, a black couple who are originally slaves belonging to the Booths’ neighbour but who are saving from their paid work to buy freedom for their children. This is so painful for them, yet they are seen as like family to the Booths, and even after John’s terrible act, Ann still admits that she would help him if he came to her.. This says so much about abhorrent and unjust slavery was and why, despite the actions of Booth and his followers, it had to end.

My head loved this book, but my heart didn't. I really enjoyed the concept, following John Wilkes Booth's siblings lives, rather than his. But there were too many points of view characters for my liking. I got attached to Rosalie, the opening character, and then she disappears into the background (I appreciate this is historically accurate, but it felt I'd invested time in a character that then let life pass her by).

I did love the historical setting, I thought it was done really well. Nothing jarred, I felt very absorbed in the story. However, I think my reading preferences are now towards shorter books and this seemed quite long.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I really liked how the story started with a "secret" house being brought from another place at great expense and the family settling in after emigrating from England.. However, the narrative soon became very rambling with an overabundance of detail and lost momentum. The father, Booth is a very boring, bullying, mercurial,, drunkard and perhaps bigamist. He has no redeeming features. I felt sorry for his children.. It takes right until the end of the story for the assassination to take place and therefore, its aftermath is not chronicled. I'm not sure if it was the writing style but the story just didn't connect with me or come alive. It was a slog.

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps, stop/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me.

Very disappointing.
Fowler evinces a huge decline in ability between this and We are all completely beside ourselves. In her afterword, she states that she wanted to write a book about the killer of president Lincoln, assassin Wilkes Booth - without paying undue attention to the man himself. Started in the aftermath of yet another mass shooting in the States, Fowler wanted to explore the purported culpability of families of these shooters. Apart from the major flaw underlying this hypothesis (only the person that pulls the trigger is guilty, no one else), her desire to give Wilkes almost no "airplay" at all leaves the reader both frustrated and confused. If we are to have no exploration or imagining of what might possibly drive a man to this course of action, then reading it seems rather pointless. Most of the Booth family were, if not ambivalent, very much anti-slavery, and the only point at which Wilkes seems to have come under the influence of pro-slavery sentiment was at the boarding school, mostly populated by the sons of Southern plantations; this era in his life is only barely mentioned however, and here Fowler misses what could be the crux of the whole book.
Instead she gives us the mediocre saga of a sometime actor - mostly a drunkard and bully, certainly unbalanced - and his large families (yes, he was hounded and convicted of bigamy). Nothing in any of their lives is of any outstanding interest, except possibly the start of the story, when Father and Mother (second one) Booth come over from England and establish their household; but many families that settled the American frontier will have vastly more entertaining and enlightening sagas to tell. The first hundred-odd pages is entertaining enough, but I was conscious of waiting for the real meat of the novel. Sadly, this did not appear, even 20 pages from the end, when Wilkes killed Lincoln.
Unfortunately, it is her use of language that truly lets Fowler down. The deficits in theme, storyline and characterisation could have been rescued by a better style. There is no doubt that Fowler expended a lot of effort on historical research into the family and the era, but it falls incredibly flat on the page. Her style is very much reportage (where it is not cliché), and her characters, let alone the events or analysis of actions, are as mere factual, journalistic transcriptions of her research. Fowler does not bring the past to life at all, and the result is an over-long and rather boring second-hand rendition of an historical thesis.

My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book, in return for which I have provided an honest review.

I loved Karen Joy Fowler’s “We are all completely beside ourselves”, so was intrigued and excited to read “Booth”.
It’s a sweeping, fictionalised historical family saga, which follows the life of the infamous John Wilkes Booth plus his dysfunctional family. And inevitably looks at Abraham Lincoln and his life too.
It’s beautifully written and so engaging - a rich portrayal of a family in all its glory and awfulness. There’s a wry humour which I very much enjoyed and so much Shakespeare and American history, which was fascinating. I loved the Lincoln quotes: “the gravest peril will be if the mob and dictator unite” still so apt today.
Booth is compelling, brilliant and I didn’t want it to end.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

3.5 upped to 4
This is a book I find hard to review and rate. Because I don't know if I love or detest it. I loved some parts and some others bored me to tears.
I find it gripping at times and very slow paced at others.
It's matter of perspective I assume and I was expecting a book about John Booth and could an excellent piece of historical fiction but it was more than I could chew.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is an ambitious book with a great amount of historical content. I was really interested in learning more about the story behind the man who assassinated Lincoln. However, like many, I just found this novel too long and rambling. It's rare for me to dnf a book 3/4 of the way in, but I just couldn't manage any more. Parts of the story were really interesting and I was engaged in the characters, but there were just too many small inconsequential anecdotes and the return was not worth the investment.
With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

In an epic fictional sweep from 1822 to nearly the close of the century, Fowler surveys the Booth family’s triumphs and tragedies. Short asides chronicle Lincoln’s rise in parallel. The foreshadowing is sometimes heavy-handed, and the extended timeline means there is also some skating over of long periods. Booth is low on scenes and dialogue, with Fowler conveying a lot of information through exposition. Luckily, the present-tense narration goes a long way toward making this less of a dull group biography and more of an unfolding story. I also appreciated that Rosalie and the other Booth sister, Asia, are given major roles as point-of-view characters. The issues considered, like racial equality, political divisions and mistrust of the government, are just as important in our own day. Recommended to fans of March and Hamnet. (Full review at BookBrowse; 3.5 stars)

I loved We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves years ago, so I took a chance on a new book by the same author. Did I hesitate a moment because it was ‘historical’? Have we met?! I should have hesitated more.
Booth tells the story of the Booth family: well-known in their own right as actors, soon-to-be infamous for the acts of the second youngest son – John Wilkes.

The writing isn’t bad, but I got bored quickly. If this hadn’t been an ARC and if I were a DNFer, I would’ve admitted defeat at about 45%.

The problem was an overload of information that seemed superfluous and hard to follow at times. We know the assassination is coming (and every so often there are sections about Lincoln and what he’s up to) but we don’t get there until the end of the book leaving very little space to address what I was interested in: the effects of the crime on the rest of the family. Surprisingly, the author wrote in the afterword that her intention was to explore the effects on the family and not centre the story on the killer. I would have preferred a different distribution of information – or even a dual timeline.

The characters didn’t keep me interested either – for the most part they were unlikeable, pitiable, eccentric, alcoholic, or a combination; and their political views were either contradictory or just too confusing for me to follow.

I can’t say I didn’t learn anything, but I didn’t get what I was looking for in this book. I do think other readers could enjoy it much more than I did though. With some patience.

Also, don’t do what I did and listen to Hamnet on audio at the same time – there are a lot of similar plot points!

Thanks to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail/Viper for this ARC.

<b><i>Advanced review copy provided by Netgalley for an independent, honest review</i></b>
Booth is a large, sprawling historical fiction novel surrounding the theatrical family of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. <i>Overall, it is ambitious in scope, but I felt it was more textbook than I would have liked, and the tone sometimes veered towards the melodramatic (perhaps as an accurate(ish) reflection of the characters in the novel.</i>

Reading the author's note, I understand that Fowler attempts to centre the novel not on the infamous John Wilkes but tries to tell the tale of "the family that gets left behind" after one of their members commits an unforgivable sin. Grimly, that was probably my favourite thing about it: as it's more relevant today in our point in history with folks continually radicalised on the internet to do terrible things like mass shootings, it is an interesting an poignant exercise to think about a perpetrator's mother, or sister, lover - all marked, all shamed.

I can't put my finger on why I didn't fall in love with the book. Maybe it's because it felt too sprawling in scope: but then again I think about Middlesex or Pachinko, one a classic family-centred epic and the other a historical fiction told over the course of a century, and I still felt moved and hooked. Maybe it's because John Wilkes is slightly impossible to empathise with, and that all the women in the novel are (painfully, historically accurate) lack agency. It... didn't bring me massive amounts of joy, unfortunately.