Chapters 6 and 7 Summary

Upon completion of her education in England, Eleanor returns home to begin her entrance into New York society. More an academic than a socialite, Eleanor suffers through an endless whirl of balls and social events necessary for a young woman of her position in one of New York's finest families. Eleanor has many friends, however, and gravitates toward those whose intellectual pursuits mirror her own. Eleanor also has a fair amount of suitors; but, in the fall of 1902, she meets her distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, on a train bound for Hyde Park and the two strike up a friendship that soon transitions into love.

Franklin courts Eleanor in secret for a year before the couple announces their engagement. Franklin's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, is dismayed with the engagement. Since the death of Franklin's father, Sara Roosevelt has learned to rely...