The Milliner's Thread: The Saga of Early Entrepreneur Addie Bonney and Her Remarkable Family

Ripped from the history books and family papers, Addie Bonney's true-to-life saga is a groundbreaking story of love, ambition, betrayal and survival. Addie forged a trail-blazing path as an entrepreneurial woman in the late 1800s. She owned several successful hat and dress shops at a time when women did not work, much less outside the home. Addie also survived domestic abuse, infidelity and divorce. These uncommon events caused Addie to roll up her sleeves and fend for herself. She shaped her own destiny by opening new shops and flying in the face of societal norms.

Addie's determination, independence and modern world view were passed down to her children. Their unconventional lives (like Addie's) were marked by triumph and tragedy--set against the backdrops of the Civil War, America's Gilded Age in New York, Michigan's turn-of-the-century banking and automobile industries and small-town life.

The Milliner's Thread is a remarkable story of a woman and a family ahead of their time.