The Hamilton affair

by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman

Cobbs's (Broken Promises) second novel is a fictionalized biography that will appeal to both biography fans and general fiction readers. Cobbs's tale of Alexander Hamilton's life concentrates mostly on his wooing of future wife Elizabeth Schuyler. But it's when he is contemplating the future of a newly independent nation and questioning the morality of mankind that the story feels most alive. Beginning in 1768 and ending in 1854, the novel alternates chapters from Alexander's and Elizabeth's point of view, beginning with their respective childhoods, their first meeting, their life in the...