Author: Tracey Enerson Wood
Started: Apr. 24, 2021
Finished: Apr. 30, 2021
Emily Roebling is the wife of Washington Roebling, the Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge. After her husband becomes an invalid due to an injury suffered while working on the bridge and PTSD from the war, Emily becomes his eyes and ears on the project. After a time Washington, Wash as she refers to him, ends up working on the bridge project only from afar and most major decisions are left to Emily, who has no education in engineering or bridge building. While working on the Brooklyn Bridge, Emily must also deal with being a wife, a mother, unexpected attention from a most unusual man, as well as the belief that women should be seen and not heard.
I knew nothing about Emily Roebling prior to picking up this book. I had never given much thought to who built the Brooklyn Bridge as it was something that was always there in my eyes. Emily was a pioneer in the advancements of women's rights and was a known suffragist. This was my first book by Ms. Wood but it will not be my last. She did not shy away from expressing Emily's dissatisfaction not only with her unusual marriage but also how she felt at being in charge of a project with no training and for which she would receive no credit.