Author Alexandra Rimer

Amazing turnout at the Chatham Historical Society. Loved meeting all of Chatham residents. Some even have homes in Chautauqua! Looking forward to my event there in July.

‘Succession’ meets ‘Downton Abbey': First book on Thomas Edison's wife hits shelves May 1 A book launch and signing of “Seduced by the Light: The Mina Miller Edison Story” takes place June 4 at Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

I am so excited to share that my book will be out in March 2023!

Seduced by the Light is the first and only biography of Mina Miller Edison, the wife of Thomas Edison, the woman who created and shaped the myth of one of the most seminal figures in America's history. The Thomas Edison we think we know was essentially created by Mina Miller Edison. Exhaustively researched by author Alexandra Rimer, a Rutgers faculty member and Assistant Editor at the Thomas Edison Papers, this account draws on unprecedented access to Edison family diaries, memoirs, and letters to look below the surface of the Edison family during the Gilded Age from the little-known perspective of this female protagonist.

Following his first wife’s death, Thomas Edison went in search of the next mother to his children, and chose a wealthy twenty-year-old socialite from Ohio who was nineteen years his junior. What Mina did not know at the time was that Edison was a terrible father, completely neglecting his children and, ultimately, Mina herself. Absorbed in his work, he only interacted with his family at dinner, and sometimes not even then. The result was a dysfunctional family overseen by a saintly matriarch who went to great lengths to protect Edison’s reputation as well as that of his wayward children.

Lyons Press Rowman & Littlefield Joelle Delbourgo Associates Blackstone Audiobooks

Stay tuned for more updates.

Edison bought Glenmont in Llewellyn Park for Mina as a wedding gift in January 1886. They married a month later. Edison was 39. Mina was 20. When originally built, Glenmont was a marvel of modern living, and had:
• A central heating system
• 23 fireplaces
• A refrigerator room in the kitchen
It had 23 rooms, including 2 and 1/2 baths. Six more bathrooms were added to the home.
Already a celebrated inventor Edison's new wife nor new home could change his old work habits. He spent little time at the house and worked long hours at his immense laboratory just down the hill in West Orange.
Park new bride