Journalist Lorena “Hick” Hickok gave up the Eleanor Roosevelt news beat in 1933 to document the Great Depression for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. She did not, however,  give up Eleanor Roosevelt. Instead, she moved into the White House to serve as “First Friend.” In White Houses, Amy Bloom imagines that friendship as a passionate indulgence set against the austere war years.

Bloom delivers presidential gossip in a well-rendered historical setting, as well as a love story that both lifts and twists the heart.