Review of The Renegade Queen by Eva Flynn!

This is the true story of Victoria Woodhull and the love of her life, James Blood.

Adored by the poor, hated by the powerful, forced into hiding during their lifetimes and erased from history after death, the legend of their love lives on.

It’s 1869 and Victoria has a choice to make. She can stay in an abusive marriage and continue to work as a psychic, or she can take the offer of support from handsome Civil War general James Blood and set about to turn society upside down. Victoria chooses revolution.

Victoria Woodhull

But revolutions are expensive, and Victoria needs money. James introduces Victoria to one of the wealthiest man in America”"Commodore Vanderbilt. Along with her loose and scandalous sister, Tennessee, Victoria manipulates Vanderbilt and together they conspire to crash the stock market”"and profit from it. Victoria then parlays her fortune into the first female-owned brokerage firm.

When her idol Susan B. Anthony publishes scandalous rumors about Victoria’s past, Victoria enters into a fierce rivalry with Susan to control the women’s movement. James supports Victoria's efforts despite his deep fears that she may lose more than the battle. She might lose part of herself.

Susan B. Anthony

Victoria starts her own newspaper, testifies to Congress, and even announces her candidacy for President. But when Victoria adopts James's radical ideas and free love beliefs, she ignites new, bruising, battles with Susan B. Anthony and the powerful Reverend Henry Beecher. These skirmishes turn into an all-out war, with Victoria facing prejudice, prosecution, and imprisonment. Ultimately, Victoria and James face the hardest choice of all: the choice between their country and their love.

Eva was raised on bedtime stories of feminists (the tooth fairy even brought Susan B. Anthony dollars) and daytime lessons on American politics. On one fateful day years ago when knowledge was found on bound paper, she discovered two paragraphs about Victoria Woodhull in the WXYZ volume of the World Book Encyclopedia. When she realized that neither of her brilliant parents (a conservative political science professor and a liberal feminist) had never heard of her, it was the beginning of a lifelong fascination not only with Victoria Woodhull but in discovering the stories that the history books do not tell. Brave battles fought, new worlds sought, loves lost all in the name of some future glory have led her to spend years researching the period of Reconstruction. Her first book, The Renegade Queen explores the forgotten trailblazer Victoria Woodhull and her rivalry with Susan B. Anthony.

Eva was born and raised in Tennessee, earned her B.A. in Political Science from DePauw in Greencastle, Indiana and still lives in Indiana. Eva is a member of the Authors Guild and the Historical Novel Society. Eva enjoys reading, classic movies, and traveling. She loves to hear from readers, you may reach her at eva@rebellioustimes.com.

My Thoughts

Victoria Claflin, later Victoria Woodhull who with no formal education, except for a few years, grew up in poverty and where Victoria and her siblings had to earn money for the family. Born of a father who was a con artist and a mother who was off in la-la land most of the time, Victoria and one of her siblings had to put up with their father's tyrannical behavior. Her father also sexually and physically abuses Victoria and her sister Tennessee and forces Victoria to perform as a clairvoyant. At the age of 15 Victoria marries a man who is a doctor, but it is soon revealed that he is a hopeless alcoholic, unfaithful to his marriage vows and unreliable as a husband to Victoria. She gave birth to a son who was mentally challenged, probably due to her husband's alcoholism. She also had a daughter.

Victoria became a woman's advocate and a proponent of free love which made her an outcast in Victorian times. One tough lady, though, she persevered and became a newspaper publisher, dabbled as a philanthropist, a lady stockbroker with her sister Tennessee, public speaking, all before women had the right to vote. She lobbied so that woman could vote. She had very influential friends such as Commodore Vanderbilt and also made many enemies including other women. She was often at loggerheads with Susan B. Anthony. She presented her views in front of a congressional committee stating that women already had the right to vote from within the 14th and 15th amendments

During this time she met and fell in love with James Blood, a Civil War Commander of the 6th Missouri Volunteer Infantry in the Union Army and Victoria's second husband. This marriage was a match made in heaven for them both but things don't always go as planned.

Most significant was her run for the first woman president. As we know, she didn't win but she paved the way for a lot of women's rights that we enjoy today. On the eve of President Grants election, Woodhull published an article in her newspaper aimed at exposing popular preacher Henry Ward Beecher as an adulterous hypocrite. In retaliation, she was sent to jail where she was charged along with Tennessee for sending obscene literature through the mail. Her and sister were eventually exonerated. Because of the backlash from the charges she was called Mrs. Satan and forced from her home. At the end of the story, she leaves the US and moves to England.

The Renegade Queen is a fascinating look at the life of one of the most influential woman along with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other brave women who put up with being ostracized in a man's world. Without these women, we would not  be enjoying the equal rights we have now. Every woman should read this story. Not only is this a fictionalized story of a great influential woman but it is also a love story between Victoria and James. A love story that is a bit heart wrenching. I look forward to reading the next installment of this debut historical novel by Eva Flynn.