Book Description

September 1860 America is coming apart at the seams. Tensions are high throughout the country, even in the state of Wisconsin, admitted to the Union just 12 years earlier. The issue of slavery, and the abolition of it, is on every adult's mind.10 year-old Mary Anne Fahey, however, is not thinking about slavery at all. She is excited that she will be taking a ride on a side-wheel steamship, the Lady Elgin, from Milwaukee to Chicago, where her father Patrick, her mother Mary, her friend Willie, and his dad, Captain Garrett Barry, will all be participating in a parade and attending a rally for Stephen Douglas, the Democrat from Illinois who is running for President against the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln.Mary Anne and Willie have no idea that they are about to become part of the largest tragedy to ever occur on Lake Michigan. The Lady Elgin, already considered by some to be cursed, is about to go down in history for the greatest loss of life on the waters of the Great Lakes. Who will survive? Lost Lady is based on the true story of the disaster that rocked a nation already in the throes of discord and conflict. The events leading to this horrific tragedy, along with the heroic attempts both on land and sea to save the lives of so many, is an account worthy of tribute to the heroes and in deference to all those who perished on that fateful night.