Compared to today’s dysfunctional political landscape where too many politicians appear to be self-seeking, I found Frances Perkins, the protagonist in Becoming Madam Secretary, refreshing — and inspirational. Her contributions to our American way of life are a reminder of what true public service looks like.

Perkins was the first female to serve as a member of a president’s cabinet and had a social insurance plan on her agenda decades before FDR appointed her Secretary of Labor in 1933. Stephanie Dray brings her incredible story to life in a way only Dray can.

In truth, I wondered how Dray was going to pull off plucking a dusty figure from the annals of history and turn her into a figure modern readers would find irresistible. I should have known better than to doubt Dray’s capabilities. Author of books like The Women of Chateau Lafayette, My Dear Hamilton, and America’s First Daughter, Dray knows how to blend just the right mix of personal circumstance with historical details to reveal the story behind the story. Such is the power of biographical fiction.

I recommend Becoming Madame Secretary if you enjoy reading about women from history who refused to take no for an answer — and if you like being privy to the inner workings of politics. During her twelve-year tenure as Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins championed scores of social programs Americans now take for granted.

This book is fantastic in every way. The reason I love historical fiction is I feel like I'm learning what I should have learned in school. I had never heard of Frances Perkins much less all she did for the underprivileged first in NYC and then the United States. She was a powerful, smart, influential woman in a time when most were only allowed in the kitchen. The story was well told through a developed plot. This should be required reading in AP American History classes.

I found this book to be fascinating as I did not have a lot of prior knowledge of Frances Perkins. I appreciated the fact that it included a lot of historical context without losing the story line. It flowed nicely and kept me engaged.

You may not know the name Frances Perkins, but you will recognize many of her efforts.

I love biographical fiction, particularly when it features a female that I know little (if anything) about. It is why I was so excited to read Stephanie Dray's new novel Becoming Madam Secretary. While it has languished in my TBR for months, it was every bit as great as I hoped it would be.

I don't read much historical set before the 1930s, but I have been trying to read more books about the Progressive Era at the turn of the century. I thought this would be a WWII-era novel as that is when Frances Perkins served as the first female presidential cabinet secretary. However, it goes back to the beginning of Perkins's career when she worked in tenement housing while studying for her Ph.D in Economics.

With the upcoming election and the possibility of having our first female president, I think now is the perfect time to read this book if you haven't already. I don't think there are very many people alive today who remember a time when we didn't have programs like OSHA and Social Security and I think it is important to remember why these social programs were fought so hard for and why we need to continue to fight for social protections.

Perkins was a formidable woman who let nothing stop her from doing what was right. She felt it was her Christian duty to help others and her patriotic duty to make sure the American experiment was a success. Again, reading about her life reminded me of why the U.S. was established and the lofty goals that we have yet to fully accomplish.

It is a well-written novel that is engaging and informational. It is perfect for those not ready to take on a fully nonfiction history book for Nonfiction November. It is strongly rooted in the historical record and the author provides a note on when she had to deviate from it. The note also provides more information about Perkins's life that had to be left out of the novel.

My review will be published on Thursday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2024/10/2-engaging-novels-of-historical-fiction.html

I've been a fan of Stephanie Dray's work ever since I read Lily of the Nile in high school. She continues to perform! The amount of research she puts into her work is clear, while at the same time not allowing to story to get too muddled in the futile goal of complete accuracy.

I love the care and research that goes into her portrayal of real-life women, in this case bringing to life Frances Perkins, a strong advocate and leader in labor issues. I found Stephanie Dray's book very interesting and well written.

Becoming Madam Secretary is a fantastic historical fiction novel that profiles Frances Perkins, an incredible figure in American history. I didn't know anything about Frances Perkins when I started reading this book, but I was blown away when I learned about all of her incredible contributions as the first female Presidential Cabinet member and her tireless advocacy for worker's rights.

I found Stephanie Dray's book very interesting and well written. As with so many historical fiction books that feature women in prominent roles, this book introduced me to another women, Frances Perkins, a strong advocate and leader in labor issues. Miss Perkins (as she was addressed) became the first women who served in the U.S. Cabinet after being nominated by President-elect Franklin Roosevelt. The author includes Perkins work for the poor and underemployed women and children aa well as her private life and the struggle she faced in each and the conflict she managed between the two. If history classes had featured more women such as Perkins, and less war stories, perhaps I and many other women and girls would find history interesting and relatable. Drays has written a book that expands our knowledge of women in history.

Frances Perkins should be a well-known, celebrated name in our history, but as usual she is not. It is not often that women and their accomplishments, no matter how great and important they are, are celebrated. The people who are celebrated are the men from that time that she worked with, Al Smith and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
This book follows Miss Perkins from her younger years right after college, all the way to her time as a professor in her 80s. Throughout her time with Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt, among others. The whole time she battled people in a "man's world" where women were nice ornaments for your arm, but were never valued as intellectual. The smarter you were, the more you were treated as dangerous, and that's just how she was treated.
She battled many causes from women's rights, child labor laws, safety issues, work hour allowance, and one of the most important was our Social Security law. She did so many things, and still she isn't a household name like Roosevelt, and other people of that time are. This was a fantastic book, by an author that I love, about a woman who I have now added to my list of idols!

Becoming Madam Secretary is a terrific historical novel that brings to life the legacy of Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a US Cabinet. Dray captures Frances’s journey from her early days in New York City to her pivotal role in helping the nation navigate the Great Depression.

Arriving in New York at the turn of the century, Frances is determined to make a difference. She immerses herself in social work, tackling the harsh realities of Hell’s Kitchen, where the poor often lived in vermin-infested tenements. Her passion for reform drives her to fight tirelessly for better living and working conditions, marking the beginning of a career that would change American history.

When Frances meets Franklin Delano Roosevelt, she sees him as an arrogant dilettante, while he views her as a priggish do-gooder. Yet, over the next twenty years, they form a historic partnership that carries them both to the White House. Frances becomes FDR’s most trusted lieutenant, implementing groundbreaking social reforms while struggling to balance her public career with the demands of marriage and motherhood.

Dray’s portrayal of Frances Perkins is inspiring and deeply human, weaving in historical details like the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire and her connections to figures like Sinclair Lewis. (I didn’t know author Laura Ingalls Wilder was related to FDR!)

This is an ambitious work, covering a vast span of history with depth and nuance. My hackles rise when accomplished women don’t get their due, and Frances Perkins is certainly one who deserves to be remembered.

Stephanie Dray earns another enthusiastic 5-star rating.

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. The opinions are my own.

I love historical fiction, especially when it introduces me to people and events about which I know nothing or next to nothing. Becoming Madam Secretary is a fictionalized retelling of Frances Perkins, who forms a political partnership with FDR in the early 20th century and is by his side for the next several decades, even becoming FDR's Secretary of Labor, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. The book was FASCINATING and you better believe I delved into her history even more as I read the book.

Stephanie Dray does it again. I love the care and research that goes into her portrayal of real-life women, in this case bringing to life Frances Perkins, a woman who I didn't know a lot about before reading this excellent novel!

Becoming Madam Secretary is a fantastic historical fiction novel that profiles Frances Perkins, an incredible figure in American history. I will admit that I didn't know anything about Frances Perkins when I started reading this book, but I was blown away when I learned about all of her incredible contributions as the first female Presidential Cabinet member and her tireless advocacy for worker's rights. Stephanie Dray has a unique style that brings historical fiction to life in the style of a memoir, blending real facts and historically accurate elements with a unique narrative and dialogue. I love when I read an enjoyable fiction novel that also educates me, and this one fit the bill perfectly! This book was long (500+ pages) but I found myself completely absorbed in reading it. I highly recommend picking up Becoming Madam Secretary for your next historical fiction read!

Historical fiction is definitely not a book genre that I tend to gravitate towards; however, I found myself not wanting to put "Becoming Madam Secretary" down! Admittedly, prior to reading this book, I had no idea who Frances Perkins was, despite the fact that was tasked with creating, and helping push through, legislation for things such as better working conditions, and the creation of the Social Security system. This book does an amazing job of exploring not only the contributions that she made for our country, but her being able to do so while juggling the roles of being a wife and mother, as well as being a female in the traditionally male-dominated political sphere, both in local, state, and federal government (she was the first woman to hold a position within a president's cabinet as the US Secretary of Labor). It's a long read, at just over 500 pages, but is written in such a way that it does not feel like a book of such great length.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray is a wonderful historical fiction read. This author's writing style was amazing! I'm not big into historical fiction but this story kept me coming back for more. I didn't know much about Frances Perkins prior to reading this book but she is the epitome of women in democracy and stepping up for what you believe in even if it goes against the social norm. What a great story!

This was a very interesting read. I really enjoy historical fiction books about women that the world does not know much about. I learned a lot and wanted to read more. I do also enjoy Stephanie Dray's writing.

I had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Dray on her book tour, and it was so awesome to hear her talk about Frances Perkins. I do not know very much about this period of history, and this book was both entertaining and informative. I loved learning about a powerhouse of a woman and the impact she has had on our everyday life!

Thank you to Berkley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I will be completely honest here, before picking this book up, I did not know who Frances Perkins was. This is a shame because she was an incredible woman who did a lot for the US. I absolutely adore Stephanie Dray because you can see how much research she pours into her books. They are so well researched while also being so interesting. I absolutely loved this book and was riveted by Frances Perkins' story. I highly recommend this book, and all of Dray's other works! Absolutely phenomenal! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A historical fiction novel about the first female US Cabinet Secretary - Frances Perkins, who was the Secretary of Labor under FDR for his entire presidency. Due to her tenacity, we have Social Security, Medicare, a less than 12 hour workday, and rules around child labor, as well as safety in the workplace. I was amazed at her efforts to create a safer and more equitable environment for laborers, and to get America working again during the Great Depression. She is the architect of the New Deal. I am so glad I read this book as I learned so much about this amazing woman who put her country and her commitment to social justice above all else, while struggling with a difficult home situation-her as her husband, and later her daughter, had issues.

Becoming madam secretary is an exciting and informative historical fiction that expounds on the life of Frances Perkins and her relationship with FDR and all the changes beneficial to the American people. It highlights Frances' accomplishments in her career in a entertaining way.

Though this is a longer read it has a wonderful flow, taking the reader on a first-person journey through the life of Frances Perkins, a woman that I knew nothing about until I picked up this book. I truly believe this is how a historical fiction should be done! It is on the lengthier side, but it has to be with the wealth of information that it bears witness to. If the author wrote about all that Frances Perkins did within her lifetime it would be thousands of pages, so I am thankful for this condensed version, and all of the time and research it must’ve taken to write this book.

There is a lot of ground to cover and the way the author approached it was seamless, making the whole narrative feel very cohesive as we see Frances Perkins professional and personal lives fleshed out in dazzling technicolor. I’ve never really studied the political climate during this particular era, so I found a lot of the history fascinating.

I love how historical fiction gives emotion to historical facts. I’ve studied the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory disaster and what happened in those thirty horrifying minutes several times, but reading the account in this novel made the tragedy technicolor. How working conditions could be so inhumane is sickening. These businesses made people become the machines when it’s supposed to be the other way around. Also seeing the signing of the Social Security Act was truly a touching moment that really summed up everything that Frances and FDR went through together.

I hate that I did not know the name Frances Perkins before now, but I am thankful to not have to say that again. She was a trailblazer and champion that should be taught and talked about more often than she is. She ruffled feathers with her dogged determination for Jewish immigrants and fighting for her social insurance plan which would become what we now know as social security. Without her tireless efforts we would not have programs in place that have aided millions and I am so very grateful for her passion for human rights, even when it was at the expense of her own personal struggles.