America’s First Daughter: A Novel by Stephanie Dray (Epub)

Description

From her earliest days, Patsy Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson’s oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate, protector, and constant companion in the wake of her mother’s death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France.

It is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that fifteen-year-old Patsy learns about her father’s troubling liaison with Sally Hemings, a slave girl her own age. Meanwhile, Patsy has fallen in love–with her father’s protégé William Short, a staunch abolitionist and ambitious diplomat. Torn between love, principles, and the bonds of family, Patsy questions whether she can choose a life as William’s wife and still be a devoted daughter.

Her choice will follow her in the years to come, to Virginia farmland, Monticello, and even the White House. And as scandal, tragedy, and poverty threaten her family, Patsy must decide how much she will sacrifice to protect her father’s reputation, in the process defining not just his political legacy, but that of the nation he founded.

User’s Reviews

Review “America’s First Daughter brings a turbulent era to vivid life. All the conflicts and complexities of the Early Republic are mirrored in Patsy’s story. It’s breathlessly exciting and heartbreaking by turns-a personal and political page-turner.” — Donna Thorland , author of The Turncoat“Painstakingly researched, beautifully hewn, compulsively readable — this enlightening literary journey takes us from Monticello to revolutionary Paris to the Jefferson White House, revealing remarkable historical details, dark family secrets, and bringing to life the colorful cast of characters who conceived of our new nation. A must read.” — Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Empress“[A] triumphant, controversial, and fascinating plunge into the complexities of Revolutionary America, where women held power in subtle ways and men hid dangerous secrets. You’ll never look at Jefferson or his legacy the same way again.” — C.W. Gortner, bestselling author of Mademoiselle Chanel“Authors Dray and Kamoie have performed tireless research. Whether it’s detailing Patsy’s life as a debutante in Paris, where she dances with Lafayette and witnesses the first flickers of the French Revolution, or recounting the world of a Virginia plantation, they’ve done their homework.” — Kirkus Reviews“This is a stunning historical novel that will keep you up late, hoping the engaging story never ends. Highly, highly recommended!” — Historical Novel Society, Editor’s Choice From the Author Join Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie’s Newsletter to receive new release information, news about contests, giveaways, and reader events, sneak peaks and teasers, signings and appearances, and more! To subscribe, copy and paste this into your browser’s address window: eepurl.com/bPZ-zD

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I know absolutely nothing about Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph. I don’t even know that much about her father, President Thomas Jefferson. All I know is that once I finished this engrossing novel, I want to read more about her and her family. This is one of my favorite historical fiction novels of all time.Patsy Jefferson is the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson. Having run from their plantation Monticello to hide from the British in the Revolutionary War, she grows up as not only as the daughter of the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, she matures as the daughter of the third President of the United States. Growing up, she lost her mother at the age of 10; lived in Paris during her coming out years and experienced the revolutionary fervor there. She comes home and marries a distant cousin, Thomas Randolph. Even though she was constantly pregnant (she ended up giving birth to 11 children), managing her husband’s plantations as well as her father’s, she ended up being a pivotal part of Thomas Jefferson’s life.This is a long novel and if I could, I would have sat in my chair and read for hours. This story simply pulled you into Patsy’s life, turmoil, world … it gives a personal flair to a woman I have never heard of. It does touch upon the sticky issues of slavery, Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemmings and Patsy’s own relationship with Sally as well as with other people. It is a reminder for those of us who like to think in terms of history being black and white, that there are a lot more issues that surround the times and nothing is ever so easy as we’d like to believe. The authors have navigated through some of the thorny issues with a fine touch by bringing a personal touch to it.The only issue I have with this book is that it does not cover her later years as much as I had hoped for. However, if there are books written about her children, I will definitely seek them out. I know this is a novel, but I feel as if this would be a good starting point in getting to know the history of our forefathers, as much as to encourage the interest in our leading ladies. These 2 authors have managed to bring a woman who has been buried under the dusty pages of history to life.And that is my favorite way to spend time … reading about the ones who have lived before us. It is inspiring to read about people and be reminded that too, they were once flesh and blood, and survived to be remembered in history as to shape our country’s path.

⭐ Very disappointed in this book after reading the reviews. I have read numerous books on Thomas Jefferson and know the history of the Revolution and the French Revolution fairly well. I was looking forward to reading about the President daughter, although I knew a little prior to reading. I felt the undocumented romance between “Patsy” and William short did not add anything, yet it took up almost the first half of the book, then jumped quickly to her marriage to Thomas Mann Randolph. The Randolphs and Jeffersons were related, but this didn’t seem to really come through in the book. If this had been my first encounter with Thomas Jefferson I would have come away with a very disappointed view of the man. Never did I really get an idea of the “great” sacrifices he made for this country, nor any evidence of his brilliance. As for the daughter, I don’t seem to have a feeling for her one way or another, certainly not one of great respect, which I thought I would have after reading the book. Disappointed in the history content and in the way the life of Patsy Jefferson Randolph was developed.

⭐ I can’t say that I liked this long, drawn-out saga of Patsy Jefferson Randolph’s life. It read like a soap opera and a melodramatic one at that. I certainly hope there was more substance to the real woman than we were shown here. In the epilogue, the authors try to vindicate themselves by saying that it is fiction, after all, but based on real letters written by real historical characters. Therefore, some of the most ridiculous events (Patsy and Dolly Madison saving the American Revolution for Thomas Jefferson or Patsy being Lafayette’s inspiration for his own rebellion when she was 15 years old) are meant to be accepted as fact. Really? Thank God for Patsy. Poor old Thomas Jefferson couldn’t have made a grilled cheese sandwich without her, much less have written The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, designed Montecello and the University of Virginia among other things. As for France, I don’t know why Delacroix and generations of French people have called Lady Liberty by the name Marianne’ when clearly she should have been named ‘Patsy’, because she was the true inspiration for that embodiment of ideas.

⭐ I grew up reading historical fiction. It fired my imagination, made me love the learning of history and continues to this day as a still loved source of reading pleasure. This book about Martha ‘Patsy’ Jefferson Randolph is beautifully researched, well written and a pleasure to read.The authors have taken such care to show the fulsomeness of Patsy’s character that I often found myself reacting to her and the events of her life and some of her choices with a disbelieving shake of my head, laughter, gasps, aggravation, concern and frequently, with sorrow. The things that she does to take care of and protect her father and meet the responsibilities of a wife and mother during turbulent political and social times often left me feeling exhausted on her behalf. She comes across as a very unique character who truly understood the history she was living, so much so that her efforts are almost totally responsible for much of what the world knows about the details of Thomas Jefferson’s life.In this book, Jefferson himself is no marble statue because we get to see him through the eyes of his daughter. Devoted as she is, his weaknesses are presented along side his strengths. As a Founding Father, he loved and nurtured the ‘grand experiment’ that is the United States, but did not know how, after the death of his wife, to nurture his own children. He was deeply emotional, but often discouraged emotional reactions by his children. He wrote that all men are created equal,’ but kept slaves. He was man of brilliant intellectual ability, but also a ‘dabbler’ who seldom finished a project, once started. He was generous to a fault, but left his family in near penury upon his death. Finally, the authors convince me that he loved his children but it isn’t evident until they are older and the quality of their intellectual abilities is shown.The relationship of Jefferson with Sally Hemmings and the children she bore him is not deeply explored in this book. However, what is told is often poignant and heartbreaking. The authors explore only a few of the many contradictions of personal philosophy and the human heart in this complicated relationship. Patsy and Sally are wary with one another, but work in concert to protect Jefferson both in life and in death.As a side note, the campaign for the Presidential election in 1800 which is chronicled in this book was vicious and petty with personal attacks and insults. Sound familiar? Ah, history…how it repeats itself.Bottom line: Patsy Jefferson was a helluva’ woman. This book, told in the first person, is not only wonderful history, it is a compelling read about a woman faced with incredible personal struggles and responsibilities who felt both the glory and the weight of her father’s legacy while he lived and after he died. She lived through two revolutions, the War of 1812, Jefferson’s eight years as President presiding as his hostess in the absence of a First Lady, survived a difficult, often abusive marriage, bore 12 children and raised several that weren’t her own, wrestled with the shame of slavery and preserved Jefferson’s legacy. This book helped me understand that HER legacy is something to be celebrated.

⭐ I’ve read quite a few books, fact and fiction, focused on Thomas Jefferson, and especially on the Jefferson/Sally Hemings relationship, but have largely steered away from anything focusing on his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, assuming her to have been uninteresting, staid, jealous and spiteful. Granted, this is historical fiction, so who knows *what* Martha was really like, but I’m glad I took a chance on this one.It’s extremely tantalizing to think that Martha, having had the opportunity to curate her father’s papers and, most tellingly, his personal letters, may really be the puppet-mistress behind most of what we know and accept about Thomas Jefferson today. “America’s First Daughter” takes that position, as we see Martha reviewing Jefferson’s letters and deciding on a case-by-case basis which of them should survive for posterity and which should be burned. It’s fascinating and ultimately very frustrating to wonder what personal insights or experiences of his didn’t survive for this reason, and in this book, Martha as the narrator uses the recounting of her own experiences to illuminate her decisions. Instead of the way she is often portrayed — motivated by shrewish jealousy or hard-nosed determination to preserve a certain family reputation — the character we see here seems mostly interested in preserving the permanent public legacy of the man who is almost like a god to her.I have to disagree with some readers’ opinions that Martha is an unlikable character; it may be the character’s pragmatism and practicality that results in that opinion. I found the character interesting as a woman of her times — unusually highly educated because of who she is, but still an 18th/19th century wife without a voice in most things (and the bearer of 11 children, for heaven’s sake, all of whom came one after the other over the course of most of her adult life, of which she spent a majority of her time either pregnant or nursing infants). I felt that her views on her circumstances were in keeping with her time, and never felt that too-modern views were being inappropriately inserted into these pages — something I personally feel is always a mistake in historical fiction.I felt that the love story with Mr. X (I won’t spoil it for other readers) was largely unnecessary, regardless of whether or not it is speculated that it may have happened, although it does function to create a sense of yearning for something-elseness that must have been tremendously common among women of this time, who had little choice over so many of the courses of their own lives. I *did* like the author’s approach to Martha’s relationship with her husband, Thomas Mann Randolph, and appreciated the imagining of their relationship as a loving and sensual one, at least in the beginning, and appreciated the author’s choice to depict him as a sympathetic character throughout most of the novel. So often, right out of the gates, Randolph is depicted as an ogre, a drunk and an abuser, and there’s rarely ever any reason to like him. Regardless of the fact that he may very well have been all these things, it was refreshing to see him written as someone we can at least understand, if not always like, and to see him as a victim of many frustrations over which he had no control.

⭐ A romance novel lightly perched on the heaving bosom of history. Oh well, it’s a fast read. Another book group choice that leaves me wondering if I need another book group.

⭐ Compelling glimpse into third President Thomas Jefferson’s complex family through the eyes of his beloved daughter. Martha “Patsy” Jefferson was his first born daughter and eye-witness to Jefferson’s depression following the death of his wife. A vow with her dying mother makes the child responsible for him. Her mother extracted a vow from her father as well, that he never marry and subject the children to a step-mother. Jefferson must have female company, whether it’s for social, intellectual, or sexual and he fills his life with a variety of women that Patsy must navigate to hold onto her spot as his right hand. She is his emotional caretaker and he let’s her know his salvation lies in her hands. While her father dedicates his life to his country, Patsy sacrifices her life for him. Caught in the middle is Patsy’s first love, William Short, Jefferson’s forbidden ones, first with a married woman and then with his slave, Sally Hemmings. The entire family is fraught with poor financial choices, bad marriages, and an excess of Southern pride that threatens their existence. Patsy’s strength and devotion propels her through hardship after hardship, her steely backbone never bends, regardless of how her life is imploding. Her conflicted attitude toward slavery, the growing awareness of her father’s words about freedom for all is an American tragedy, a blot on the revolution seeking fairness that created liberty for some and ignored the rights of so many others.

⭐ The fact that it took me almost a month to read this tells you how much I liked it. I was determined to finish it, but it was a struggle. It is categorized as a historical fiction novel, which is one of my favorite genres. I feel like I learn so much as I am reading an entertaining novel. I would consider this book more of a historical ROMANCE. It was 90% about relationships. The stories focused on relationships between men and women, family members, friends, etc. I did not learn a lot about Thomas Jefferson, what he did, stood for, his presidency, etc. I learned he was a slave owner who had a many-year affair and several children with one of his slaves after his wife dies. It was very much like a soap opera – all about the drama. Not very interesting to me. 2.5 stars

⭐ When I first started this novel, I wondered how the life of the daughter of one of our founding fathers, and not the man himself, could possibly fill such a long book (over 600 pages). Sometimes authors like to take a lesser known relation of a historical figure and give them a voice but it just doesn’t work out well because their life just isn’t as interesting. I figured it would be all about Thomas Jefferson himself and his affair with his slave, Sally Hemmings, and when things like that are told from a third party perspective, it tends to be lacking. But while that was one of the sub plot lines, Martha Jefferson’s own story was not lacking and no less fascinating than any novel on Thomas Jefferson himself could be. It’s actually amazing how much the authors managed to fit into only 600-some pages.The beginning was a little bit of a slow start, but the writing was excellent, and the character development is what really makes this book great. I did often wonder why Martha was so dedicated to a father who frankly could be rather selfish sometimes. I understand it had to do with losing her mother, but I couldn’t help feeling like at some point enough should just be enough. That’s not necessarily criticism though, I appreciated that Martha was a flawed character, it made her human. And not just Martha, but all the characters were so well formed, so complex, so believable, and so sympathetic. Combined with a surprisingly eventful plot, I just couldn’t wait to see what would happen next and how the characters would handle it. So much had already happened in just first half of the book, and I knew there was so much more to come, it truly felt like something of an epic saga.

⭐ America’s First Daughter is a work of historical fiction based mainly on the letters written to and from Thomas Jefferson. It’s told from the point of view of his loyal and loving daughter Patsy. It begins during the American Revolution and ends a few years after Jefferson’s death. It’s a family saga as interesting and emotional as Gone with the Wind, with romance, scandal, duels, and domestic violence. I believe it treats the issue of slavery fairly and portrays Jefferson accurately, though with the obvious bias of his daughter, since the story is told through Patsy’s eyes. There is romance, but it is clean. America’s First Daughter is a very long listen, and I never once tired of listening to it. I can’t wait to listen to Kamoie and Dray’s next collaboration, My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton.Highly, highly recommended. Stands above many other five star listens.I posted this review on Audible as well but forgot to mention the narrator! I’m from the South, but I do not usually like to hear the southern drawl in audiobooks, as it often sounds fake to my ears. This narration was beautiful, with attractive, authentic-sounding male voices and lovely female voices. It was easy to differentiate between the characters. Bravo to Cassandra Campbell!

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