A Belle of the Fifties / Memoirs of Mrs. Clay of Alabama, covering social and political life in Washington and the South, 1853-1866. Put into narrative form by Ada Sterling

A first-person memoir offers recollections of plantation childhood and Southern society, transitions into vivid portraits of life in Washington's political and social circles in the 1850s and 1860s, and records the author's experiences during the sectional crisis and war. Presented as episodic reminiscences, it blends social anecdotes, personal interactions with prominent figures, and reflections on political upheaval, wartime hardships, and private loss, creating an intimate account of shifting social and political landscapes in the antebellum and Civil War era South.