About this item
A novel about heiress Mary Philipse's relationship with George Washington, based on historical accounts, letters, and personal journals."Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted." -- George WashingtonDid unrequited love spark a flame that ignited a cause that became the American Revolution? Never before has this story about George Washington been told. Crafted from hundreds of letters, witness accounts, and journal entries, Dear George, Dear Mary explores George's relationship with his first love, New York heiress Mary Philipse, the richest belle in Colonial America.From elegant eighteenth-century society to bloody battlefields, the novel creates breathtaking scenes and riveting characters. Dramatic portraits of the two main characters unveil a Washington on the precipice of greatness, using the very words he spoke and wrote, and his ravishing love, whose outward beauty and refinement disguise a complex inner struggle.Dear George, Dear Mary reveals why George Washington had such bitter resentment toward the Brits, established nearly two decades before the American Revolution, and it unveils details of a deception long hidden from the world that led Mary Philipse to be named a traitor, condemned to death and left with nothing. While that may sound like the end, ultimately both Mary and George achieve what they always wanted.
About the Author
Subject of a documentary on Smithsonian Channel, the award-winning novel, Dear George, Dear Mary is a never-before-told story, hidden away for centuries, revealing that long before tea was tossed into Boston Harbor, unrequited love helped spark a flame that ignited a cause that became the American Revolution. Crafted from thousands of archived letters, witness accounts, journal entries, documents and published articles, the novel based on the true account, explores the relationship between George Washington & his first love, the richest belle of Colonial America, Mary Eliza Philipse."Calvi's portrait of Washington as an earnest young man striving for success but beleaguered on every front is convincing and, in a way, endearing. It is also a fascinating and unique look at pre-Revolutionary War society, with its misunderstandings and simmering resentments, and notable for the author's use of contemporaneous documents." -BOOKLIST"Calvi's debut skillfully depicts the ill-fated love story of a promising 24-year-old colonel named George Washington and Mary Eliza Philipse, a...New York heiress, {in this} 'affecting' narrative." -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY"Drawn from scores of primary sources, Calvi's intricately crafted reimagining of a relationship with potentially revolutionary ramifications will fascinate historical fiction fans and romance lovers alike." -LIBRARY JOURNALAs a journalist, MARY CALVI searches for untold stories. Never would she have imagined she would find one hidden away for centuries in her hometown and in the grand manor that once belonged to the first love of George Washington. This novel is based on what she uncovered through her years of research involving thousands of documents related to George Washington, Mary Eliza Philipse, and other historical figures. Calvi is a nine-time New York Emmy award-winning journalist. She is a television news anchor in New York City. Mary is also First Lady of the City of Yonkers. She serves as a board member of the Hudson River Museum. This is her first novel.
