American Follies

A young woman joins Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Barnums circus to rescue her infant from the KKK In the seventh stand-alone book of The American Novels series, Ellen Finch, former stenographer to Henry James, recalls her time as an assistant to Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, heroes of Americas woman suffrage movement, and her friendship with the diminutive Margaret, one of P. T. Barnums circus eccentrics. When her infant son is kidnapped by the Klan, Ellen, Margaret, and the two formidable suffragists travel aboard Barnums train from New York to Memphis to rescue the baby from certain death at the fiery cross. A savage yet farcical tale, American Follies explores the roots of the womens rights movement, its relationship to the fight for racial justice, and its reverberations in the politics of today.