‘Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams,’ by Louisa Thomas

Louisa Thomas's book Louisa was reviewed in the New York Times.

Louisa Catherine Adams lived a life that seems made for the telling. Born in London at the dawning of the American Revolution to a father who was American and a mother who was English, she spent her early years in Europe, first with her family, then as the wife of a diplomat who went on to become president, John Quincy Adams. With — and without — her husband, she traveled the world, hobnobbing with royalty, then settled in America, where she toiled to gain him the presidency. Accomplished, ambitious, socially skilled and keenly observant, she was a formidable woman with an extraordinary life, just as the subtitle of this book promises.

But perhaps the most extraordinary thing about her was her penchant for writing. She left behind not only an abundant correspondence, but also a diary, poetry, plays, fiction and — remarkably — three fragmentary autobiographical accounts, one of them detailing her adventure-laden trip from Russia to Paris in the war-torn winter of 1815, the other two recounting her experiences and thoughts. “Record of a Life,” written when she was 51, offers an idyllic version of her childhood and young adulthood; the cryptically (and somewhat forebodingly) titled “Adventures of a Nobody,” written when she was 65, chronicles the first two decades of her marriage.

Louisa Thomas, a journalist and a former editor at the now defunct Grantland, makes full use of this bounty. Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams offers a biography filled with interior knowledge of its subject. Louisa wrestled with her place in the world, questioning her role and importance, clashing with her hot-and-cold husband and grappling with her ambitions, often pouring out her thoughts and feelings on paper. “Louisa” tracks the course of her inner emotional life, even as it follows the ins and outs of her travels.