Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin Audiobook

Quotes

• “Book of Ages is an ardently told life story, brimming with love and loss against a background of political strife and war. Jill Lepore opens a smeared casement on the life of Jane, Benjamin Franklin’s gifted sister, confidante, and life-long correspondent. While Benjamin was able to forge a path to greatness from his obscure beginnings, Jane, trapped by gender, starved of education, was not. The contrast between the two destinies is by turns captivating, enraging, and profoundly moving. As Lepore sheds light on this one, unsung life, she brilliantly illuminates an entire era.”

  — Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Caleb’s Crossing

• “Jane Franklin’s indomitable voice and hungry, searching intellect shine through these pages; she will not be forgotten, and the world is richer for it.”

  — Time

• “A thoughtful and illuminating biography.”

  — O, The Oprah Magazine

• “As she stitches together Jane’s story, Lepore gives us a side of Benjamin Franklin we have never seen—an evocative look at what life was like for most eighteenth-century women.”

  — Entertainment Weekly

• “Meticulously constructed…Consistently first-rate.”

  — New York Times

• “It is uncanny how vividly personal, how vibrantly colored, Jane’s voice sounds from these pages…let’s call it genius.”

  — Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review

• “Luminous…Jane emerges as witty, curious, and resilient in the face of unimaginable grief, yet she is not an unsung hero of the revolution, a forgotten Abigail Adams. Her importance, as Lepore’s portrait memorably shows, lies in her ordinariness—her learning thwarted by circumstance but her intelligence shaped by her uniquely female experience. We may know about Jane Franklin only because of her famous brother, but he is not why she matters.”

  — Washington Post

• “A tour de force that can only evoke admiration.”

  — Washington Times

• “It is simultaneously a fascinating look at early America, a meditation on one remarkable mind by another, and, implicitly, a biography of all the other Janes—history’s anonymous and overlooked women.”

  — New York

• “Astonishing…This is a work of meticulous reconstruction and high ambition….In Book of Ages, Lepore has lovingly resurrected [Jane Franklin].”

  — Boston Globe

• “In this beautifully written double biography, Lepore brings into focus not just the life of Jane Franklin Mecom, alongside that of her brother, but illuminates the dynamic era through which they lived and gives us a birds’-eye view of history from the vantage point of a powerless woman who grew up in a Boston family alongside one of the eighteenth century’s greatest authors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and statesmen…This lyrical and meditative book ranks familiarly as a history or biography, but is more than either…It descends historiographically from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A Midwife’s Tale as a classic and enduring tribute to an obscure woman, only this one also had a famous brother.”

  — San Francisco Chronicle

• “Book of Ages is the name of Lepore’s extraordinary new book about Jane Franklin, but to call it simply a biography would be like calling Ben’s experiments with electricity mere kite flying….The end product is thrilling—an example of how a gifted scholar and writer can lift the obscure out of silence. In so doing, Lepore enriches our sense of everyday life and relationships and conversational styles in Colonial America…The brilliance of Lepore’s book is that plain Jane’s story becomes every bit as gripping—and, in its own way, important—as Big Ben’s public triumphs.”

  — NPR

• “Eloquent…deeply sensitive to language.”

  — New York Review of Books

• “Book of Ages is an artful, serious, marvelous book. Lepore brings to it focus, intensity, and proud delight in her subject.”

  — Christian Science Monitor

• “By restoring Jane so vividly to the historical record, Lepore provides a fresh, personal perspective on Benjamin. And so extraordinarily demanding was her research, even the appendixes in Lepore’s vibrantly enlightening biography are dramatic…Lepore’s stature grows with each book, and this first telling of a remarkable American story, supported by a national tour and generous print run, is destined for an even greater readership.”

  — Booklist (starred review)

• “Lepore masterfully formulates the story of Benjamin Franklin’s youngest sister, who will be virtually unknown to many readers, using only a few of her letters and a small archive of births and deaths…Jane Franklin was an amazing woman who raised her children and grandchildren while still having the time to read and think for herself. We can only see into her mind because her correspondent was famous and because a vastly talented biographer reassembled her for us.”

  — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

• “This book is an important, inspiring portrait of a determined and faith-filled woman who just happened to be the sister of a big shot. It will be enjoyed by all.”

  — Library Journal (starred review)