Hamilton Affair - by Elizabeth Cobbs (Paperback)

About the Book

"Elizabeth Cobbs has now written the Hamilton novel that immediately leaps to the top of the list." --Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers

Book Synopsis

For fans of Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda, here is the New York Times bestselling novel that Cosmopolitan called, "A juicy answer to Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton."

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Revolution, and featuring a cast of legendary characters, historian and master storyteller Elizabeth Cobbs tells the sweeping, tumultuous, true story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler, from passionate and tender beginnings of their romance to his fateful duel on the banks of the Hudson River.

Alexander Hamilton was a bastard and orphan, raised in the Caribbean and desperate for legitimacy, who became one of the American Revolution's most dashing--and improbable--heroes. Admired by George Washington, scorned by Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the new nation. Elizabeth Schuyler was the wealthy, beautiful, adventurous daughter of the respectable Schuyler clan--and a pioneering advocate for women. Together, the unlikely couple braved the dangers of war, the perils of seduction, the anguish of infidelity, and the scourge of partisanship that menaced their family and the country itself.

With flawless writing, brilliantly drawn characters, and filled with politics, scandal, adultery, and true love, this historical novel tells a story of love forged in revolution and tested by the bitter strife of young America, and will take its place among the greatest novels of American history ever written.

Review Quotes

"Why did Alexander Hamilton risk everything? Why did Eliza Hamilton stand by him? This complicated couple who did so much for young America spring to life in this entertaining, well-told tale."
--Cokie Roberts, author of Ladies of Liberty

"Cobbs's depiction of Hamilton will endear him in the hearts of readers and shed light on one of the most misunderstood figures in American history and the woman who shared his life."
--Publishers Weekly

"Author and historian Elizabeth Cobbs' fictionalized spin on the life of the founding pops and his better half, Eliza Schulyer, is a juicy answer to Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton..."
--Cosmopolitan

"Although it's entering a crowded field of biographies, fictional or not, of various Founding Fathers, Cobbs' meticulous account holds its own--even without catchy tunes."
--Kirkus Reviews

"If you want the authoritative biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow is the place to go. If historical fiction is your preference, Elizabeth Cobbs has now written the Hamilton novel that immediately leaps to the top of the list."
--Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers

"The Hamilton Affair is a captivating historical novel from cover to cover, vividly recreating Hamilton's dramatic and inspirational life story. Highly recommended for both public library collections and personal or book club reading lists, The Hamilton Affair is all but impossible to put down."
--Midwest Book Review

"Cobbs' novel presents a thoroughly researched portrait of the Hamiltons that makes you feel like you are in the room where it happened. It's a bouquet to obsessed Hamilfans, but this well-written novel is enough to keep the lay reader satisfied, too."
--The Miami Herald

"With the expertise of an historian and the intimacy and immediacy of a gifted novelist, Elizabeth Cobbs plunges us into the cauldron of love, war, betrayal, slavery, blackmail, revolution, dueling, and banking in which our nation was brewed--and delivers us into the conflicted heart of one of its most passionate and misunderstood heroes."
--Stephen Harrigan, author of the bestselling The Gates of the Alamo and A Friend of Mr. Lincoln

"Historic scholarship and creative music have suddenly turned Alexander Hamilton into one of the hottest of the nation's Founding Fathers. The Hamilton Affair promises to turn up the heat even further. Elizabeth Cobbs' superb novel about the many lives and perils of Hamilton and his wife Eliza adds delights and insights that are as fascinating as they are fun. Think of it as a terrific--and must--companion to all things Hamilton."
--Jim Lehrer

"It's been more than 200 years since Alexander Hamilton was as celebrated as he is right now. What a stroke of luck that an actual award-winning historian has come along just now with such a richly detailed and entertaining novel about the most freshly fabulous American Founder."
--Kurt Anderson, author of True Believers

"Can't get tickets to Hamilton, the megahit Broadway musical? Don't despair, check out Elizabeth Cobbs' finely tuned fictional biography of one of America's most intriguing yet vastly underrated Founding Fathers. Born on the Caribbean Island of St. Croix, the illegitimate Hamilton survived impoverishment, the death of his beloved mother, and a devastating hurricane before emigrating to New York at the age of 16. Determined to better himself, the über-intelligent Hamilton attended King's College (Columbia University), where he excelled as both a student and as a leader. Hamilton's close relationship to George Washington, his friendships and conflicts with his fellow revolutionaries, and the rise and fall of his political star are all detailed, but it is his courtship of and marriage to the beautiful, vivacious Elizabeth Schuyler, a member of one of the oldest and most distinguished colonial families, that serves as the centerpiece of Cobbs' page-turning historical novel. Cobbs paints a portrait of a love so deep it was able to survive betrayal and a devastatingly public scandal. The focus alternates between Alexander and Elizabeth as their tempestuous tale unfolds in all its triumph and tragedy. Hamilton's true story is so fantastical, it is amazing that it has taken this long to transform his life and times into a national sensation."
--Booklist*Starred review*

About The Author

Elizabeth Cobbs is a historian, New York Times bestselling novelist, and documentary filmmaker. She is the author of four books on American history and a winner of the Allan Nevins Prize. Her novel Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War won the San Diego Book Award.