Tavia Gilbert and Robert Fass deserve only superlatives for their performances in Louis Bayard’s outstanding historical fiction. Mary Todd and Joshua Speed tell compelling stories detailing the way their lives entwined with Abraham Lincoln’s. In 1840, Mary comes to Springfield with marriage on her mind. She meets handsome, charming Speed and awkward Lincoln, an unimpressive country lawyer. The two confirmed bachelors share a room and a bed, and as their friendship deepens, Speed teaches Lincoln everything from hygiene to haberdashery. Gilbert’s attitude fits the smart, self-assured, determined Mary, and Fass’s portrayal of the debonair Speed is pitch-perfect. As Lincoln and Mary grow closer, we feel Speed’s jealousy and despair over the inevitable loss of his dearest friend to marriage. An inspired literary invention, superbly performed.—AudioFile Magazine