The Hamilton Affair

The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman         Audio Book:  11 hrs. 33 min     Paperback Book:  433 pages             

A really good book.    It is told as though it is truth and if it isn’t it is still enjoyable to think that maybe these were the conversations that took place.    The descriptions of the times and the historical figures are so lifelike the reader will feel they are right there beside them so much so that even during the description of the dual later in the book, you will feel the mist on your face and the muddy ground beneath your feet.   The reader will experience the emotions of each of the characters being portrayed.   This book breaths so much life into the characters, the times, the events that the reader will feel the heart beats and chests rising and falling when the emotion described calls for agitation,  catch the feel of bitter cold on your skin when the scene depicted is during the Revolutionary War in Winter.   The story is veritably tangible it is told that well.   It is so gripping that you will feel the tension within your own body when tempers are flaring, when a Freed Man is doing his best to pay for his wife and her daughter so that they may be free to live together rather than apart even though married.    There are so very many brilliant episodes in the life of Hamilton described here and told with gusto that you literally will not be able to put this one down.   The reader will be caught up in the deception of Hamilton’ affair and the feeling of betrayal when his wife,  Eliza learns of his affair when the truth he has been hiding from her for so long comes out as Hamilton is accused by James Madison and others of pilfering from the U.S. Treasury when in fact he was being blackmailed by the husband of Maria Reynolds, the woman he was having an affair with.    Hamilton was trying to spare his reputation,  which was already a bit tarnished due to he and his brother being declared illegitimate when they arrived in the United States from  the West Indies, and he was also trying to spare his wife the humiliation.   He also loved both women and wanted to believe both loved him.   There is so much that comes out in this book, things not often known about the first Secretary of the Treasury.    Very good book.    Told in such a believable way it will have the reader checking the facts to see if things really did happen as told.  (Spoiler – they did!)   Worthy read.