Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored by Mary Gabriel


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I found myself wishing the author would summarize more 1870-era news items and her speeches. Members of my book club often prefer books with strong narratives that pull them along into the story. I anticipate they will find this book too easy to put down and not pick up again.
Victoria Woodhull had an interesting life that might make a good Lifetime movie or mini-series. She and her sister were used by their family to earn money as spiritual healers at an early age. She married at the age of 14 years old to a man twice her age and he was an alcoholic and morphine abuser. She was the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. She was the first woman to testify before a Congressional committee. She ran for president against U.S. Grant. She was jailed on obscenity charges under the Comstock law. There was a second husband, another lover and finally a third husband. She tried to modernize an English village and conflicts with officials left the village without a school.

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