The Blue Box

“A memoir of three generations of women rich in historical detail” —from the Civil War to the Jazz Age (Kirkus Reviews) Shortly after her mother’s death in 2011, Sallie Bingham discovered a blue box in her mother’s closet containing the forgotten remnants of her foremothers’ lives. From her great-grandmother Sallie, was a gilded memoir written for her children during her final years; from her grandmother, Helena, a book of short stories she’d published called Legends of Virginia; and her mother, Mary, had left behind a grand romance in letters documenting her four-year courtship to the man who’d become Sallie Bingham’s father. Long before Sallie knew the details of these women’s lives she recognized the steel thread that ran through their personalities: resilience and indomitability. But to what extent did this steel thread tie up their secrets? How closely linked were their unquestioned feelings of Southern superiority—social, racial, moral, intellectual—to their ability to survive, even flourish, as their fortunes sank and rose? For years, Sallie could only speculate. Out of this astonishing 150-year treasure trove, Sallie Bingham has woven “more than a memoir; it’s an historical account of the legacies, heritages and travails of three generations of Southern women . . . in the living language of complex and exquisitely-preserved letters. Sallie Bingham’s meticulous and comprehensive work gives us a glimpse into another world—previously frozen in a ‘cornflower blue’ time capsule” (Bowling Green Daily News).