Americas First Daughter (Thorndike Historical Fiction)

Not since Gone with the Wind has a single-volume family saga so brilliantly portrayed the triumphs trials and sins of a family in the American South. ERIKA ROBUCK author of The House of Hawthorne 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 America s minister to France. It is in Paris at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of the French 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 protege William Short a staunch abolitionist and ambitious diplomat. Torn between love principles and the bonds of family Patsy questions if 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 to Monticello and even to 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 Jefferson s political legacy but that of the nation he founded. Delectable and poignant. . . . You re going to want to savor this one. Bravo. Steve Berry New York Times bestselling author"