The three Graces of Val-Kill : Eleanor Roosevelt, Marion Dickerman, and Nancy Cook in the place they made their own
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-207) and index.

"The Three Graces of Val-Kill changes the way we think about Eleanor Roosevelt. Emily Wilson examines what she calls the most formative period in Roosevelt's life, from 1922 to 1936, when she cultivated an intimate friendship with Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook, who helped her build a cottage on the Val-Kill Creek in Hyde Park on the Roosevelt family land. In the early years, the three women--the "three graces," as Franklin Delano Roosevelt called them--were nearly inseparable and forged a female-centered community for each other, for family, and for New York's progressive women. Examining this network of close female friends gives readers a more comprehensive picture of the Roosevelts and Eleanor's burgeoning independence in the years that marked Franklin's rise to power in politics."--Amazon.com.