America's First Daughter

Published in 2016, America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie is the fictionalized biography of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, known to her family as Patsy. Based on true events, the novel tells the story of Patsy and her relationship with her father, one of America’s Founding Fathers and earliest presidents.

In 1826, shortly after Jefferson’s death, Patsy begins the arduous task of sorting through her father’s papers—burning some and editing others. She wants to preserve her father’s legacy and destroy anything that could be damaging to his reputation. She has spent her whole life doing this—following, helping, and protecting her father.

The novel then transitions to Virginia in 1781, when the British are marching toward the Jefferson family home of Monticello, intent on capturing Jefferson as a traitor. Patsy is eight years old at the time. She recalls the harrowing experience as her family flees to safety under the protection of Jefferson’s secretary—William Short.

Soon afterward, Jefferson’s wife, Martha Jefferson, lies on her deathbed; she asks 10-year-old Patsy to promise to watch over Jefferson and protect the family. Patsy takes this promise seriously, and it guides her relationship with her father for the rest of his life.