American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt by Stephanie Marie Thornton
Published by: Berkley Books
Pub Date: March 12, 2019
Pages: 448
Format: e-arc | Source: NetGalley
Genres: adult, historical fiction
Rating:

A sweeping novel from renowned author Stephanie Marie Thornton…

Alice may be the president’s daughter, but she’s nobody’s darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves–oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements.

But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it’s no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument–and Alice intends to outlast them all.

This was such a fascinating, interesting book! I didn’t know anything about Alice Roosevelt or much about this period of American history, and I was good at resisting Wikipedia so the narrative would surprise me. It’s always hard to fit an entire life in a 400 page book, especially one as full as Alice’s, and I feel like it was done well. I liked the emphasis on her younger years for half the book. Infidelity is not a topic I enjoy, but all of the “characters”… real people… were nuanced and interesting, which I appreciated. And I very much enjoyed the ending, it was lovely. I would definitely recommend this to historical fiction readers.