OCHM Book Group: Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

Scheduled to meet monthly on the second Saturday, newcomers are always welcome to join the group.

For April we’ll be reading Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore. It is a life that has never been examined before: that of the sister of one of the most remarkable men of their time, living unknown to the world at large, but a constant presence and influence in her brother's life through their correspondence (he wrote more letters to her than to anyone else). Making use of an astonishing cache of little-studied material, including documents, objects, and portraits only just discovered, Jill Lepore brings Jane Franklin to life in a way that illuminates not only this one extraordinary woman but an entire world. Lepore's life of Jane Franklin, with its strikingly original vantage on Benjamin Franklin, is at once a wholly different account of the founding and one of the great untold stories of American history and letters.