The beautiful love story of Teddy Roosevelt and his love, Alice Lee Hathaway was set in one of my favorite periods- the gilded age. Strong willed Alice and sick but active Teddy have a whirlwind romance and learn with each other about love and heartbreak. While I can appreciate the research and beauty of this book, I have to say it was just not my cup of tea. It was well researched and studied, the writing was beautiful and descriptive, but it was just too dry for me.

I had high hopes for this story as the premise is fascinating. The characters are nicely developed and the setting is interesting. Unfortunately I found this a little contrived and too slow paced in parts. As a result, I was never able to really get into this one.

I wasn’t the right reader for this title.

United States - 1878

Theodore Roosevelt met his first love in 1878 when he was a student at Harvard and was invited by a friend to a party. There he is dazzled by his friend's beautiful cousin, Alice Hathaway Lee. Letters that were stored at Harvard University reveal two young people living in the Gilded Age, and who were equally engaged in putting the Victorian norms behind them.

Alice Lee, highly educated for the age, mostly due to her late grandmother's encouragement, isn't sure that marriage is enough of a future for her. Intelligent and outspoken, meeting Teddy Roosevelt had her thinking twice. She'd never met anyone quite like him before. He wasn't the typical college man out to have fun, he was self-deprecating, and quiet, unlike his outgoing, partying friends. But is he the right man for Alice?

Growing up as a sickly, asthmatic boy, the adult Teddy is active, loves the outdoors, and hasn't really thought much about marriage. Alice Lee changes much in his life as he cannot get her out of his mind. She is so much more than the debutantes he's been introduced to in Boston.

IF A POEM COULD LIVE AND BREATHE is based mostly on the beautiful letters that Teddy and Alice shared with each other. The world was changing and their letters and diary entries show the historic events as well as the growing love the two had for each other. Feisty Alice was anything but a Victorian woman, she was a sign of the future, and Teddy began to show early on what a thoughtful, progressive man he would come to be.

To elaborate too much would be to ruin the emotional tale this collection of letters and diary entries portray. Do enjoy IF A POEM COULD LIVE AND BREATHE and you'll know how that title came to be.

Mary Calvi captures the sweet courtship and deep, enduring love between Theodore Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee in "If a Poem Could Live and Breathe". I found myself surprised to read the letters the two wrote one another, around which Calvi crafted this fictionalized version of their love story. I’d never thought of Teddy Roosevelt as a romantic, but his letters to Alice display a man head over heels in love with a woman who inspired and supported him in equal measure, and vice versa. I was also surprised to learn that Alice was a staunch advocate for women’s rights, views which Teddy fully supported.

Mary Calvi’s passion for these historical figures is evident in her writing, which perfectly reflects the enthusiasm and hope of the young, impassioned hearts expressed in their love letters. Her skillful research also brought to life Teddy and Alice’s New York City ad Chestnut Hill during the Gilded Age.

Though their story was cut short far too soon, the bittersweet ending left me thinking about Teddy and Alice long after I closed the book. Their love was beautiful and true, and all the more touching for the way the loss of it clearly impacted the man who would go on to become the 26th President of the United States. I’m grateful to have gotten a glimpse into this version of their love, a story shaped and told with such care.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Mary Calvi for an ARC of this lovely book!

Review-If a Poem Could Live and Breathe by Mary Calvi
review by Shirley Weidner

Thanks to a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley, the author, Mary Calvi, and St. Martin's Press. This is my honest review.

I love Historical Fiction! This genre allows the author to do research and spin a story based on facts, but in which the characters are drawn with a brush of interesting fiction. The story begins in 1878 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at Harvard University. Student, Theodore Roosevelt meets Alice Lee, a local young lady, who’s intelligence and beauty capture his heart. The two meet through Theodore’s school mate, Richard and his sister Rose, who are both cousins to Alice Lee. The author recounts their blooming romance and friendship in beautifully expressed language similar to the times.

Alice is a forward-thinking woman, for that era, who wants to get a higher education and Teddy applauds her. Their romance faulters and then renews itself with lovely personal letters (the author found in archives). I enjoyed this look back at history through the filter of a young couple in love!

Interesting story about the courtship of Theodore Roosevelt and his beloved Alice Lee. The format interspersed letters written between them. The book was slow at times but the story was worth reading.

It has been a long time since a book has moved me as much as If a Poem Could Live and Breathe. This book is an intimate history written as fiction, with so much drawn from real historical archives, of Theodore Roosevelt and his first love and wife Alice Hathaway Lee. I found it to be warm and tender with a sorrowful ending which left me in tears. I don’t think many people realize the romantic that existed in a young Teddy Roosevelt. We see the fun loving man that was so at home with nature and all animals. He was a great friend to many. His “formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” He did this in all his relationships and was very well liked because of it. His story with Alice was more precious than words. “Her intellect and charm, that’s what drew him to her”. Alice was an advocate for women’s rights and Teddy supported these beliefs. They recited Shakespeare together many times throughout the story and enjoyed philosophical debates all in good fun. Their love letters to each other are so real and from the heart they can truly touch the soul. I found an interesting thread throughout the book about a red-headed bird which would be seen by Alice and Teddy whenever something important in their lives was about to happen. They both loved birds and Teddy could imitate many bird songs which enchanted Alice. Their love story was one for the history books and I am so glad many of those memories were preserved enough for Mary Calvi to be able to write this wonderful story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Love this book. Seeing a young Teddy Roosevelt, and his quirky personality, and his first love for Alice Lee. The love letters between them.
I was given an opportunity to read this book, and so happy I did. I would definitely recommend this book to my book club.

I have mixed opinions on this book. I enjoyed learning the story of Theodore Roosevelt and Alice. It was a good time piece and the characters were very well developed. Yet somehow I wasn’t pulled into the story. I ended up skimming much of the second half of the book as I was ready to finished with it. I do believe though there will be those who thoroughly enjoy it. It just wasn’t for me.