Lydia Hamilton Smith was an enigma. Was she merely the housekeeper for famed Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, the driving force behind the 13th Amendment, or was she his common law wife? A Most Unusual Housekeeper is a novel about an incredible woman who was considered "Colored" although she was three quarters White. Together, Lydia and Thaddeus raised four boys, two Black and two White, three of whom served in the Union Army in the Civil War. Lydia served as not only Stevens' social director but his business manager and confidante. The cover of the novel is a black and white photograph of a color painting of Lydia by famed artist Charles

Bird King which was commissioned by Thaddeus Stevens when Lydia was in her thirties.

Although Stevens always referred to Lydia, a widow, as Mrs. Smith most of the Black population knew her as Mrs. Stevens. Lydia, in her diary, details her life with the famed abolitionist who was only the third person to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda (after Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln). Like many women of the 19th century. Lydia has been forgotten but with A Most Unusual Housekeeper she comes to life again.

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