The House of Lincoln is an interesting book full of little known history. First of all, the book's protagonist Ana is a Portuguese immigrant, and her story is full of poignant pieces of history that I was completely unaware of until now. Second, this book is probably the first historical fiction I've read that actually addresses Lincoln's racist beliefs (i.e. pro-colonization, the stipulations surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation, etc.) and calls them out for what they were. Third, I think it's wonderful that the book follows the characters through the Springfield Race Riot of 1908 while tying it to how it's directly affected by the Civil War and white supremacists. All of that was done really well.

That being said, I wasn't a fan of how sometimes it felt like the chapters were just summaries of what happened during the Civil War. I felt like I didn't get as much character depth as I would have liked because there were paragraphs dedicated to naming dates and summarizing events that didn't directly affect the story. For someone who enjoys a plot structure like that, though, I'm sure they'll enjoy it! I was also a little disappointed by how little of the book actually deals with Ana and the Lincolns. The Lincolns are a big part of the book, and yes, we do see Ana interact with them, but the cover, title, and blurb indicate that that will be the meat & potatoes of the book when really, it's like the middle third of the book is dedicated to it, and that's it. I'm sure people will really enjoy this book, though, and I hope to see their positive reviews!