There are two children's books that have given me a glimpse into Alice Roosevelt Longworth's life and piqued my interest about this First Daughter. I know snippets about this woman because of those two books, and was excited to see American Princess: A Novel of The First Daughter coming out.
American Princess did a great job of exploring the life of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. We meet her as a young woman, just as her father was assuming the presidency. While her exploits are a part of her story, I appreciated that Thornton created a woman who had more substance to her than trying to seek publicity.
My previous knowledge of Alice was minimal, and was more about her attention getting behavior, so learning of her marriage to Nicholas Longworth -and its many challenges was definitely new to me. This is a work of fiction, so it's hard to know if Thornton portrayed Alice entirely accurately, but I liked the version of Alice I was treated to: a woman who was always looking for love and her father's attention. (There is probably a lot of analysis that could be done about Alice Roosevelt Longworth).
Her relationship with Edgar Borah and the child they had together, Pauline, was a part of her story I knew nothing about, so I loved this part of the novel and also learning about Alice's later life.
I realize that this is a novel, yet it felt very real. Thornton's depiction of Alice is one I appreciated and enjoyed. I love a good fictionalized biography and this was fantastic.
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