Review: America's First Daughter

America’s First Daughter
Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
5 stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
 
I love stories about America’s founding that aren’t centered around the founding fathers. (To read some history books, you’d think this country was founded by roughly 57 men all by themselves!) Granted, this one has Thomas Jefferson as a key figure, and I suppose in a way it is about him as his life is the vortex that determines the direction his daughter’s life takes, but the story being told from her point of view makes a big difference. It’s not about Jefferson the founding father, so much as it is about Jefferson the man.
 
That said, I picked this one up with some trepidation. I realize Jefferson and others were just men and

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they had their share of faults – some much more than others. But I’m not crazy about the current trend of raking dead mens’ reputations through the mud. Honesty is okay. An agenda is not. It’s a fine line, I know.
 
The authors did an excellent job of walking that line. Jefferson does not come off as a saint. Far from it. But nor does he come off as a an evil, self-centered man. He strikes me as a brilliant man who lived just a bit too much in his own head. (As much as I admire him as a writer, I’ve always said he’s the founding father I would probably have liked the least.)
 
Laura Kamoie holds a PhD in early American history and that comes through. I recognized some of the scenes, such as Jefferson’s flight from the British, but there were scenes that I had never thought much about before. Reading such a vivid description really brought them to life.
 
For critics that think this reads like a romance novel, it would be hard to tell a biography (even a semi-fictional one) of a young girl/woman that did not have at least some romantic elements to it. However, this story lacks several key ingredients such as a hero and a happy ending. (Not saying the ending is tragic or anything. It just isn’t the happily ever after – or HEA – that is necessary in the romance genre.)
 
So, even if you detest romance novels, so long as you love history, I think this is one that’s well worth adding to your TBR list. I have already added Laura and Stephanie’s follow up novel, My Dear Hamilton, to my TBR pile. (Talk about another guy who wasn’t a saint!)