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From the New York Times best-selling authors of America's First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written book, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza's story as it's never been told before - not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.
The novel opens in 1826 just after the death of Jefferson. Patsy is left to go through her father's letters. In addition to Patsy, Jefferson is survived by Sally Hemings, a slave about Patsy's age who is the half-sister of Jefferson's late wife. Hemings was his lover for many years and the mother of several of his children. Patsy knows the story of her father's long relationship with Sally can never be told. It is Patsy's duty to protect both her father and her country by keeping his secrets.
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: He will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met dazzling horseman Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents permitted them to wed, and the groom's abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony. Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistress' closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule became Julia's eyes to the world.
New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939 - and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement.
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth.
From the New York Times best-selling authors of America's First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written book, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza's story as it's never been told before - not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.
The novel opens in 1826 just after the death of Jefferson. Patsy is left to go through her father's letters. In addition to Patsy, Jefferson is survived by Sally Hemings, a slave about Patsy's age who is the half-sister of Jefferson's late wife. Hemings was his lover for many years and the mother of several of his children. Patsy knows the story of her father's long relationship with Sally can never be told. It is Patsy's duty to protect both her father and her country by keeping his secrets.
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: He will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met dazzling horseman Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents permitted them to wed, and the groom's abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony. Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistress' closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule became Julia's eyes to the world.
New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939 - and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement.
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth.
Everyone knows Benedict Arnold - the Revolutionary War general who betrayed America and fled to the British - as history’s most notorious turncoat. Many know Arnold’s co-conspirator, Major John André, who was apprehended with Arnold’s documents in his boots and hanged at the orders of General George Washington. But few know of the integral third character in the plot: A charming young woman who not only contributed to the betrayal but orchestrated it.
In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive.
Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the 20th century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.
In Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, novelist Jennifer Chiaverini presents a stunning account of the friendship that blossomed between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Keckley, a former slave who gained her professional reputation in Washington, D.C. by outfitting the city’s elite. Keckley made history by sewing for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln within the White House, a trusted witness to many private moments between the President and his wife, two of the most compelling figures in American history.
It is 1831 when eight-year-old Aurelia Vennaway finds a naked baby girl abandoned in the snow on the grounds of her aristocratic family's magnificent mansion. Her parents are horrified that she has brought a bastard foundling into the house, but Aurelia convinces them to keep the baby, whom she names Amy Snow. Amy is brought up as a second-class citizen, but she and Aurelia are as close as sisters. When Aurelia dies at the age of 23, she leaves Amy 10 pounds. But Aurelia also left her much more.
The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne.
Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined - an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times notable book The Hazards of Good Breeding.
After a failed apprenticeship, working her way up to head housekeeper of a posh London hotel is more than Sara Smythe ever thought she'd make of herself. But when a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house The Dakota, leads to a job offer, her world is suddenly awash in possibility - no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above one's station.
Hamilton was a bastard son, raised on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. He went to America to pursue his education. Along the way he became one of the American Revolution's most dashing - and unlikely - heroes. Adored by Washington, hated by Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the American Revolution.
The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism.
Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.
In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, best-selling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph - a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.
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 15-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.
I loved this book! It was well researched (as much as it could be given the edited nature of Thomas Jefferson's collection of letters) and very well written. A beautiful historic novel. For me, Cassandra Campbell's narration was a very integral part. She was perfect as the voice of Patsy Jefferson Randolph. Her accent was spot on.
37 of 38 people found this review helpful
This book is so well written. It brings to life so much history and makes one believe they are witnessing these important figures in our past come to life. The complicated interaction of one of America's most important families is fascinating. The narrator did a superb job bringing this story to life. These characters became so real that I must admit I cried in some parts of the story. So well done!
31 of 32 people found this review helpful
I learned so much about this family and the time period from this book, I enjoyed the excerpts from actual letters it added such an authenticity to this fiction novel. As to the time period first and foremost there are slaves, and secondly the women are such second hand citizens, even though Thomas Jefferson did treat his daughters better than some. The abuse towards women was horrifying, that it was just commonplace made it worse to me. You could be hanged for stealing a horse but beating up your wife or mother in law or daughter was fine.
Of course we all know about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings relationship and I do feel like that’s what it was, I think Sally truly helped the Jefferson out of his deepest despair and I believe he was grateful for that. It did make me mad that he didn’t free her and their children upon his death. I think that is the least he could have done for all she went through.
I really like Martha’s husband Tom at first but boy oh boy as this book went on he became just like his own father. This woman had 11 children in an age where a lot of women died in childbirth including her own mother and her sister. But the alternative to not doing your wifely duties was to have your husband bed a slave so I guess if you wanted to keep your husband you just kept popping out babies.
The hardships and losses she went through were tough but they made her a very tough woman and I was very impressed with her.
I was also fascinated with the fact that the women were much more “political” than their husbands they were the ones that got the right people to the right dinners and parties and advanced their men’s careers, but of course got no credit for it
Cassandra's narration was fabulous will be surprised if this doesn't get an earphones award and possibly a Audie nomination next year so very well done! I enjoyed that Patsy’s (Martha) voice aged with her and became stronger as she became sure of herself. So well done! This book was 23 hours and I was never bored or distracted and was sad when it ended.
We read this for book club and there were some that felt the Paris section in the beginning was a little romancey but don’t let that put you of, she’s a young girl at the start and this section sets up events later in the book and also shows the lengths she will go for her father.
I see these two authors are writing another book together and I look forward to reading it! I highly recommend this book and even higher recommend it on audio!
4 ½ Stars
54 of 59 people found this review helpful
Would you try another book from Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie and/or Cassandra Campbell?
Yes. I love historical novels and the authors did a good job mixing history with fiction. .Perhaps a bit long. The excerpts of Thomas Jefferson's letters at the beginning of each chapter added little. At times I was confused as to their relevance to the chapter. But overall a good book. Cassandra Campbell is TRULY one of my favorite narrators and I look for her performances specifically. But....
What didn’t you like about Cassandra Campbell’s performance?
The breathy, little girl like southern accent was very irritating and distracting. Bad decision! And, by the way, I am a southerner.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
On TV, not in a theatre.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
What disappointed you about America's First Daughter?
I agree that this sounded like a young adult book. I thought there would be more history and that there would be more Thomas Jefferson. I could not finish it because I kept falling asleep
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
Entertaining from the start, learned a lot, couldn't get through it fast enough. Amazing book. I can't wait to see what these authors do next!
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
...I HAD to review this book.....It was simply AMAZING...SMH . In order to really enjoy a book like this. you must love history first of all. second be curious about who Jefferson was as a man and want to understand his relationship with his family and how Sally Hemmings fit in this tight circle. The story starts off So slow that It killed me at first but I eventually couldn't stop listening. it was beautiful and worth the wait...I might listen again in the future :)
25 of 29 people found this review helpful
Fascinating subject matter is simplified into what reads like a "young adult" romance novel. Superficial rather than subtle, and thin as opposed to dense historical detail, the prose disappoints. Too many words wasted in drawing out imagined romantic encounters, and long descriptions of mawkish sentimentality. Rich, multileveled historical information might have been added and written in such a way to challenge, and intellectually stimulate.
26 of 31 people found this review helpful
This book was an inspired idea! The narrative through Patsy's perspective was interesting, informative, and diverting. The writing was descriptive and rich. There is so much information about Jefferson, however, that I was disappointed by the writers' choice to include long passages of the protagonist's capricious moral musings and whining in lieu of more substance of story and history.
17 of 21 people found this review helpful
Sorry, I couldn't get past the political correctness and thin veil of romanticism that takes center stage in this book. It would be a better story if the writer stuck to historical fact and refrained from injecting constant apologies for slavery, which was, albeit sadly, part of Jefferson's world.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I was not sure if I cried because of the conclusion or just because it had come to an end!
Stunning and gripping from beginning to end, a deep and detailed portrait of America's founding daughter.
Really enjoyed this book. I have an interest in American history and have visited Monticello so could visualise some of the rooms described.
Fascinating and interesting, wonderfully presented historical facts, even though slightly adapted. The narration is great. Very much enjoyed this audiobook!