Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict

Carnegie's Maid  , as it was
The Other Einstein  the book let's remember it, about the first wife of Albert Einstein Mileva Maric, is another masterpiece of history, feelings, passions penned by Marie Benedict.

I hadn't never herd of Andrew Carnegie and his personal life-story before to reading this book but I thought while I was reading it that I was reading an historic book.
I had recently finished to read and reviewed another book by Johns Hopkins University, John W.Garrett and the Baltimore&Ohio Railroad and now I was back with another business man and the construction of another railroad: the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh one.

Carnegie's Maid is vibrant and rich thanks to the delicacy and poeticity of Benedict's writing-style in descriptions of places, people and social and political conditions, without forgetting Irish movements of protests, discrimination of Irish people with Catholic Faith, without forgetting strong descriptions of familiar conditions of Irish peasants and farmers constricted most of the time to emigrate in USA for trying to survive. Black conditions and slavery treated largely because of the support at the Yankee cause from Andrew Carnegie.
It won't be forgotten the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and a private situation of a servant of Andrew's mansion searching for the rest of his family.

In Ireland Famine killed many people and most Irish decided to search for a better life in the New World.

In general entire families left for the USA because scared of an uncertain desolating future in their own homeland, but in this case just a girl of 18 years old will leave, Clara, because not adapted for the farm life.

Being a girl attracted by books and culture men close to her couldn't be good as well. 

Who knows? Maybe the USA would have brought good luck to her thought her parents.
The family counted to save the farm thanks to her material help, money, and Clara a dedicated family-girl won't disappoint her family's exigencies.

The trip long was long 40 days. Clara  arrived on Nov 4th 1863 in Philadelphia, and after few days Clara Kelley reaches her new mistress, Mrs. Carnegie in Fairfield, Pittsburgh.

The Carnegies were a family of Scottish people. They built fortune thanks to great investments, perspicacity, and intelligence.

Let's say that Clara will reach the status of Mrs Carnegie's maid hiding something vital, but I don't want to reveal this particular because very important.

Slowly Clara knows the two sons of Mrs.Carnegie but the one she falls in love for and with is the eldest one called Andrew.

Andrew is intelligent, he is a business man, but he also loves to share with Clara his projects. He tells her how he became so rich, telling her his family-story, sharing with her, his passion for poetry and books.

It's always a mess to mix work and love in particular when mrs. Carnegie is the owner of Clara and Clara in this sense is admonished: be careful because servants won't never win, tell her the other servants.

That rigid woman, mrs Carnegie although once poor wouldn't never approved a relationship of his son Andrew with Clara.

What set a man or a woman free when we talk of parents, relatives?
Have people limits although they are born rich or poor?
These limits involve also the most private sphere and so who falling in love with?
How can these limits influence people's future and their destiny?

These ones, you will see, are strong questions in Carnegie's Maid.

Andrew Carnegie decided to give up at a certain point at his past of avarice embracing the cause of immigrants less lucky than him with the creation of many free libraries.
Mr.Carnegie gave opportunity to everyone, if too poor for buying a book, to read books freely in dedicated spaces understanding the big power that culture can means for a man.


Marie Benedict, I want to tell this anecdote because it's very important and makes the difference, says that she loved to write this book because when more than a hundred year ago her ancestors afforded from Ireland to the USA, they couldn't buy any book and they studied, learnt, thanks to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh the first one created by Andrew Carnegie and other public Carnegie's libraries.
With the time this family has had lawyers, doctors, professors and all of them attended the so-called Ivy League Universities.
You see: a great improvement.

Andrew Carnegie was considered a heartless man but at the age of 33 years, he wrote a letter to himself.
A letter he would have kept close to him for the rest of all his life.
In this letter he remarked he wanted to focus on "the education and improvement of the poorer classes."

He was considered an avid man, stingy, plenty of avarice.
Who changed him? thought Marie Benedict.

There is still no trace of the person who changed de fact the course of the personal story of mr. Carnegie, but someone did it in a remarkable and positive way.

Marie Benedict remembers that one of her first relative from Galway worked once arrived in the USA as maid in the mansion of one of Carnegie's partners.
The idea of putting Clara directly in Carnegie's mansion imagining a tender story with Andrew, an inspiring and winning touch.

Mr. Carnegie   married Louise Whitfield , and he has had a daughter.


I recommend to you Carnegie's Maid so badly! to everyone.



Anna Maria Polidori