In the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Lorena Hickok was a skilled and popular journalist, chronicler of the Depression for the U.S government, and intimate friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. This fascinating biography begins with Hickok’s childhood. Her abusive father couldn’t hold a job; the family moved often throughout the upper Midwest, including Wisconsin, where she was born. By the time she was an older teen she’d been supporting herself for several years. After a brief stint at college, she began working in newspapers. At a time when women journalists were relegated to features and society pages, Hick, as she liked to be known, earned a reputation as a reporter of both news and features. She was sharp and perceptive, and could skillfully convey facts, pain, poignancy, and humor in her stories. Hick met Eleanor Roosevelt in the early 1930s and was immediately captivated; so, too, was Eleanor. Their relationship’s level of physical intimacy during the time they were closest, which lasted into the 1940s (they remained friends until Eleanor’s death), has been debated. Here, author Miller never belabors the point; details reveal that the two women were in love, regardless of how they may or may not have expressed it. Author Miller uses the term “queer” to describe Hick and her relationship with Eleanor, a decision she discusses in the introduction and one that presents this aspect of Hick’s identity matter-of-factly, offering resonance for readers today. (Age 12 and older)

In this riveting YA non-fiction set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, trace Lorena Hickok--or Hick's-- rise from devastating childhood to renowned journalist, and watch as she forms the most significant friendship and romantic relationship of her life with first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Lorena Hickok came from nothing. She was on her own from the age of 14, cooking and scrubbing for one family after another as she struggled to finish school. But the girl who secretly longed for affection discovered she had a talent with words.

That talent allowed Hick to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated newsrooms of the Midwest where she earned bylines on everything from football to opera to politics. By age 35 she’d become one of the Associated Press’s top reporters.

At the moment her career was taking off, Hick was assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt during FDR’s presidential campaign. By the close of 1932, Hick was head over heels in love with the wife of the president-elect. And her life would never be the same.

Acclaimed author Sarah Miller read the 3500 letters that exist between Lorena Hickock and Eleanor Roosevelt to reconstruct their friendship and love, and bring Hick's story to a new generation.