THE VOTE: A NOVEL BEHIND THE SCENES I come from a family of political junkies; grew up hearing about my great grandmother and grandmother's involvement in the battle for women suffrage. Yet not until I was researching another book and 'met' Alice Paul and Lucy Burns did I discover that I only knew half of the story. In 1910, Alice—a Quaker from Pennsylvania—and Lucy Burns—a Catholic from Brooklyn—are young graduate students in England. Both suffrage enthusiasts, they meet for the first time in a London prison where they have been thrown along with several hundred English women for daring to picket Parliament on the matter of woman suffrage. When the leaders fast in protest, they are summarily force-fed. The news is leaked to the press. Instantly, the women's plight hits every front page, making woman suffrage the talk of the entire British Empire. Once released and on their way back to the U.S., the two young Americans talk about their experiences. At home, suffrage is in the doldrums. Just maybe the English approach might give it the boost it needs. But the leadership of the National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA) isn't convinced, though they agree to let Alice and Lucy form the Congressional Union and work with individual members of Congress. March 4, 1913 is to be the kick-off. It is also the day recently-elected President Woodrow Wilson and his wife are expected to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the nation's capitol where he will take the oath of office. On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, however, are 5,000 women from all parts of the country, each carrying a banner demanding the vote. In the lead, riding a white horse and dressed in a white flowing robe is Inez Milholland, a very successful businesswoman from California. But when the crowds, expecting a glimpse of the new president, grows unruly, the police move in, arrest many of the women and throw them in jail. As in London, the leaders fast in protest and are summarily force-fed. As in London, the news hits the nation's headlines. Not to Alice or Lucy's surprise, NWSA frowns on such tactics. And they start the National Woman's Party, in plenty of time for the 1916 presidential and congressional elections. Two years later, we meet them again in THE VOTE.