Easily the greatest piece of historical fiction I've read in a very long time. The author, Stephen L. Carter, creates a "what-if" scenario. What if Abraham Lincoln survived the assassination asleep attempt by John Wilkes Booth, and continued to share as the sixteenth President of the United States, during the tumultuous time after the end of the Civil War?

It is 1867. The Civil War ended two years ago. Lincoln is Still President, but he is by no means the revered man that he is today. The Radical wing of the Republican party has decided to pursue an impeachment trial against the sixteenth president for crimes committed during The Civil War (shutting down newspapers, arresting political opponents, suspending habeus corpus, etc.). The story is told from the side of the defense; specifically, Abigail Canner, a recent graduate of Oberlin University. She's also black.

She arrives at the law office of Dennard & McShane, with a letter of recommendation from Senator Summer. She is under a impression that she is to be a law clerk for McShane, but he is missing, And Dennard has other ideas for Miss Canner, a role more befitting her status as a woman of color. She quickly befriends Dennard's other law clerk, Jonathan Hilliman.

Eventually, McShane is found murdered, in the company of a prostitute, and an investigation by Abigail and Jonathan ensues, which eventually leads to the discovery of a conspiracy against the President (don't worry, these plot points can be found on the back cover of the book, so it spoils nothing).

Abigail Canner is a captivating main character who often proves to be smarter and one step ahead of her white counterparts. Yet, due to her status as a woman (and a black woman at that) she is often left out of the more important proceedings. Jonathan serves as the perfect "sidekick" to Abigail, and their interactions with each other are quite charming.

The author takes a lot of liberties with the history involved in the novel, but it still fits perfectly within the context of the story. Some dates were changed here and there, and some dialogue was taken from different speeches and attributed to something else, but it all works. Many of the precedents set forth in this fictional impeachment of Lincoln were taken directly from the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson.

My complaints are few, but worth mentioning. This is a pretty big book (about 650 pages), and there are a lot of supplemental characters in the book. It would have been nice to have a "cast of characters" list to refer to, because it is easy to lose track of "who's who". Also, without spoiling anything, I thought the ending was a little safe.

All in all, though, this was a fantastic read. This is a definite must-read not only for fans of Lincoln and this era of history, but also for those interested in politics and law. I can't recommend it enough!