NetGalley Description:
In the vein of America’s First Daughter, Piper Huguley’s historical novel delves into the remarkable friendship of Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt, the daughters of educator Booker T. Washington and President Teddy Roosevelt.
At the turn of the twentieth century, in a time of great change, two women—separated by societal status and culture but bound by their expected roles as the daughters of famed statesmen—forged a lifelong friendship.
Portia Washington’s father Booker T. Washington was a former slave who spent his life championing the education and empowerment of Black Americans through the Tuskegee Institute and his political connections. Dedicated to her father’s values, Portia contributed by teaching and performing spirituals and classical music. But a marriage to a controlling and jealous husband made fulfilling her dreams much more difficult.
When Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency, his eldest daughter Alice Roosevelt joined him in the White House. To try to win her father’s approval, she eagerly jumped in to help him succeed, but Alice’s political savvy and nonconformist behavior alienated as well as intrigued his opponents and allies. When she married a congressman, she carved out her own agendas and continued espousing women’s rights and progressive causes.
Brought together in the wake of their fathers’ friendship, these bright and fascinating women helped each other struggle through marriages, pregnancies, and political upheaval, supporting each other throughout their lives.
A provocative historical novel and revealing portrait, Piper Huguley’s American Daughters vividly brings to life two passionate and vital women who nurtured a friendship that transcended politics and race over a century ago.
Review by Coffee&Ink
This is an incredible story about two women who form an unlikely friendship, Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington. From an inauspicious, cringe worthy beginning, the two eventually form a deep and abiding friendship. The author has a mature and compelling style. The voices and level of historical detail are excellent and immersive.
The story follows the two women as they make their way through a society that only values them as wives and mothers. Alice would have made an excellent politician in her own right. Portia, a talented musician, studied in Germany. Despite her abusive husband and the lack of support for a woman of color with the level of talent she had, she is still able to shine no matter what she does, from teaching to motherhood.
An excellent, inspiring story. I’m looking forward to reading more of this author’s novels.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review.
Coffee And Ink 