The General's Women

During chaotic World War II, General Dwight Eisenhower had an intense hold on Kay Summersby, his Irish driver/aide. HIis wife Mamie felt the impact in far off Washington gossip. Points of view alternate between Kay, Ike, and Mamie.

Feelings deepen when Ike and Kay move from England (1942) to North Africa (1942-43) to England, France, and Germany before and after the Normandy landing (1944-45). At the end of the war, Ike is faced with the heart-wrenching choice between marrying Kay and a political future.

Ike returns to Mamie. He becomes Army Chief of Staff, president of Columbia University, Supreme Commander of NATO, and finally president of the United States.

Kay, meanwhile, struggles to create a life and work of her own, writing two memoirs. The first Eisenhower Was My Boss, 1948 was about her war work with Ike. The second Past Forgetting, 1976 was about their love affair. She then vanishes from records.

An author's note deals with the complicated question of the truth of Kay's story, as it finally appears in the posthumously-published Past Forgetting.