Poor Richard’s Women

How many women fell in love with Benjamin Franklin? How did America’s pot-bellied, balding scientist-statesman juggle all the romances? Award-winning author Nancy Rubin Stuart addresses how Franklin found women as desirable and dangerous as electricity. Weaving detailed historical research with emotional intensity, she traces Franklin’s romantic liaisons through their private correspondence revealing independent women two centuries before the rise of feminism. Included are his common-law wife, Deborah; young Catherine Ray; his English “wife” Margaret Stevenson; the beautiful French musician Madame Brillon; and the witty salon hostess Madame Helvetius. “This is a terrific read; poignant, provocative, and probing.”- Library Journal.