Book Review

 Book Review:

America's First Daughter 

Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

 

                              

 

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZP4KE70/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding

 

 Published in 2016, this work of historical fiction has been given rave reviews and become a top contender for book club choices everywhere. 

The trouble I have is with the description of the book on the back of the title page, and I quote:
"This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental."

Yet the entire book uses letters and historical documents throughout as the basis for filling in huge blanks to write what they believe could have been the entire story of Thomas Jefferson's daughter Patsy's life, and Jefferson's as it closely relates to hers. Jefferson's wife died young and Patsy was the only one of their children who survived childhood. History records their relationship was a close one. The notes and and acknowledgments from the authors at the end of the story seem to contradict their initial disclaimer that America's First Daughter should be read as a work of fiction.

There is a strong flavor of current cultural values through the entire story, which would have been a completely unknown entity to the Jeffersons themselves. They were the products of their own time and made their choices within it. With regards to the already imbedded into the cultural fabric of the south's practice of slavery,  men of integrity and vision were already questioning this institution and seeing the evil of it. If Thomas Jefferson succumbed to a personal weakness and took a young slave woman as his mistress, it is not a shining chapter in his life. As all great men are, he was a human being with both great strengths and flaws. 

The reader is bound to make some judgement calls, to cross over that line that tells the mind the book is fictitious. That doesn't always bode well for the reputation of either of the two main characters.

As said in a comment on Good Reads, I cannot form an impression of either Thomas Jefferson or his daughter Patsy based on America's First Daughter. It disturbs me that others might do that. 

When David McCullough writes a biography he lets you know what is conjecture on his part, what there is strong evidence to support, what there is not. Give me an author like McCullough or Larson anytime if you're using the lives of famous and respected individuals as your subject matter.

The book is well written. Documented evidence of times, places, and events, are honored. For that I rated it 3 out of 5 stars.