I have stated time and time again how much I love historical fiction, and I am noticing that a subgroup in this genre that I enjoy is biographical historical fiction, where the story is built around what is known about the person from his or her own words, letters, and life events. In addition I absolutely love learning about the revolutionary war and the founding of our country. I can’t get enough of historical fiction from this time period.
Therefore you can imagine my excitement when I found, “America’s First Daughter about Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Jefferson’s Daughter. Here was a book about the revolution, a closer glimpse into Jefferson’s personal life, told through the lense of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter. I started listening to it as an Audio book and at first I was really enjoying it…. then I felt like it started to drag…. Now let me say that reader of the audio book has a very slow reading pace, and honestly I think that impacted how I experienced the book, I believe that if I had nudged up the reading pace it would have held my interest better, as it was I was probably only about a third of the way through the book when it began to feel like a slog.
The other component is that Martha did not lead an overly joyous life, there were happy times, but oh so many hard times too. This book accurately portrays the struggles of the day in the new nation as well as Martha’s personal struggles too. A turbulent childhood at times spent fleeing th British, gave way to a fairly happy adolescent spent abroad in Paris as a diplomat’s daughter, then giving way to a marriage colored by abuse. As a woman in the 18th and early 19th century Martha was no stranger to commonplace domestic violence, the loss of children, as well as financial struggles. I would never wish when reading something of this nature for the authors to paint a rosy picture that did not exist in real life- and there were bright spots to Martha’s life, her close relationship with her father for one- but readers should be prepared to spend time with Martha mourning the loss and traveling with her through the trails of her life, when they pick up this book.
I then saw that the same Authors, Laura Kamoie and Stephanie Dray, had written another book, My Dear Hamilton, which is the life story of Elizabeth Hamilton, better known as Eliza Hamilton. Should I read My Dear Hamilton when I wasn’t thrilled with America’s First Daughter? I was apprehensive to pick up this book but, as I said earlier, I can never resist a book that takes place during the American Revolution, I went for it. I am so glad I did!! I enjoyed learning the story of Eliza Hamilton as well as learning about Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers that really doesn’t get the attention he deserves- probably due in part to the fact that he never became president.
Eliza’s life was not perfect either; loss, scandal, betrayal, and heartbreak were defiantly written across Eliza’s life story. So were happiness, success, fulfillment, and reconciliation. Maybe because this book dwelt more on the happy times of Eliza’s life than America’s First Daughter did on Martha’s, I found My Dear Hamilton to be a very compelling read. I got immersed in Eliza’s world, in the turbulence of the time and I learned of the very interesting life of Alexander Hamilton, a founding father who was a model of the American dream, starting with nothing, and working his way up to eventually be founder of the American Treasury. I also learned how fragile the new nation was, we think because we won the Revolution that everything was fine, but things were much more precarious than that!
Both books tell the stories of strong and resilient women, who along with their famous relatives, fought to forge the great country we have today. In reading either of these books you will become enmeshed in turn of the century America and you will learn a lot about the struggle it took to bring forth this nation.
When I compare the stories of the two women I see that both lived lives of much hardship. Neither led easy lives, however if you read America’s First Daughter and weren’t thrilled, I urge you not to let that stop you from picking up, My Dear Hamilton, and give it a try! Regardless of which book you choose the authors do a wonderful job of bringing both of these women back to life. Both Patsy and Eliza, emerge from the pages as fully formed people with all the flaws and character quirks that we all have. Ms Dray and Ms Kamoie are great writers who you can tell have taken great pains to flesh out their character without changing who these women were. Pick up either book and you will be dropped into a rich portrait of colonial America.