My sister is in hospice care and her time left with us may be short.  She's trying to get her Christmas taken care of early. The problem:

Many years ago, our Dad gave Shelley a book that he had read so she could do a book report. It came from his mother's bookcase. She wants very much to give a copy of this to her son for Christmas.

What she remembers about the book is very little: It was an orange hardcover book about 2"or 3" thick with the title in black lettering. The pages inside were very thin. She can't remember the title or the author (yes, I know, this makes it almost impossible to find). Shelley was born in 1951 so it has to be older than that because our Dad read it. She thinks it was a bio.

My time in looking for this is limited. I'm the only one of the family that is retired and doesn't have a work schedule or small children with after school activities; so, I fill in when others can't.

I check my posts everyday. As I'm filling in this afternoon and overnight, I'll not be able to check back until tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks so much for your time...Hugs ♥♥♥ Sandy

What makes this difficult is that Abraham Lincoln is supposedly the only person who has had more books written about him than Jesus Christ.  I know I have dozens on my bookshelf.

Perhaps if you asked her what part of Lincoln's life was emphasized. That might help narrow it down.

 I realize this is probably asking the impossible. I first searched Amazon and received 35,000+ choices before I did a date filter.

Our Dad was born in 1914 and graduated from high school in 1932. He attended OSU for a short time before his first marriage. His first child was born in 1934 and I know he had to have read this book before that time.

As Shelley gets morphine for her pain, it causes her thinking to be confused and at times not able to put into words what she wants to express. I may not be able to get a clearer idea about the book...I'll try.

She mentioned this book a month or so ago; but, when other medical problems started to surface and they wanted to continue with the same chemo, she opt out of anymore treatments. Our fault for hoping that we would have her with us longer and not starting the search sooner.

Thanks so much Thomas!

Sandy

Maybe it was one of the Carl Sandburg books on Lincoln?

He wrote his first ones (The Prairie Years) in the Lincoln biography series in 1926,  the second set (The War Years) was in 1939.

In the 7th printing, The War Years has an orange cover. Maybe it had this color binding in the first printing also. Could this be the one?

The above is, I think, paperback, also see hardback editions. They are all in orange.

Even if this is not the one your sister remembered from so long ago, the orange binding might help her believe it was. As such, she will feel better. At this time, what helps your sister feel better is more important than what is true.  It is almost a year since my mother died after a horrible two month illness. If it had not been for getting Hospice in during her last days, I would have mentally and physically collapsed from caring for her.  I just recently sent in my volunteer forms to Haven Hospice of northcentral Florida, offering to help out in one of its resale stores.

It took me almost a year to clear out and clean her house. It is now on the market. Death of a loved one is hard. I would like to pass on to you some advice she often passed on to me and to others. You will never get over the loss of a loved one, but you will get through it.

Tom