Carnegie's Maid

Marie Benedict has wowed me yet again.  I loved her book, The Other Einstein.  I find that these historical fiction novels bring you pieces of history that may never have come to light in a very entertaining format.  Carnegie's Maid follows a similar pattern.  Though Benedict does point out in Author's Note that this is a research based fictional story, there is actually no basis in fact that there was a maid who influenced Andrew Carnegie to become the man he was.

So to start with the facts that are true, Andrew Carnegie started out an impoverished immigrant, who was bright but had no access to education.   He did travel across the United States to New York City from his home in Pittsburgh, PA.  He did go on a Grand Tour of Europe and wrote The Gospel of Wealth.  It is also thought that he pledged in December of 1868, at the age of thirty three, to focus on education and "improvement of the poorer classes" in a letter he wrote to himself.  Andrew Carnegie became the world's first true philanthropist.

So Benedict uses the historical setting of Irish immigrants coming to America looking for a better life and interweaves it with the life of the Carnegie family living in Pittsburgh.  She imagines the relationship between Mrs Carnegie and her lady's maid.  The reader is there with Clara Kelley as she sails on the boat, in steerage class, from Ireland to America.  Kelley is given a lucky break when she ends up in the Carnegie home, walking from the kitchen to the front parlor, "As the decor grew more elaborate - the molding changing from simple blond pine to intricately carved mahogany and the window glass shifting from clear to stained glass in vivid  patterns of cobalt blue, persimmon and citrine - the air grew colder." 

She writes home through out the book keeping in touch with her sister, who along with cousins living a very different lifestyle in the "Slab Town" area of Pittsburgh, keeps the reader up to date on the famine and political unrest in Ireland.  While here in America, the Civil War is ending and the industrial revolution is growing.  Andrew Carnegie is there taking full advantage of the changing landscape of our country.

There are many similarities between our main characters, Clara and Andrew, and there are many similarities between the lives of the rich and poor.  One example that stands out is that in Ireland, as the Kelley family is losing their farm land, they want to marry Clara's sister to a local young man to take over the farm.  In the United States, Andrew's brother, Tom,  is also marring for convenience.
His father-in-law raises a glass and toasts the couple, "We feel blessed to be joining the Carnegie and Coleman families and would like everyone to raise a glass to our fruitful union."  The two men were joining the iron manufacturing and oil drilling businesses.

This wonderful novel gives insight into a part of history, leads the reader to want to find out more about the characters, and the history, while providing a very entertaining story.