This is a great historical fiction novel detailing the friendship between Alice, Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, and Portia, Booker T. Washington's daughter. Connected by similar situations of being raised motherless, the younger women quickly take to each other and despite differences in class and race maintain a long friendship throughout the years.

Piper Huguley’s latest novel, American Daughters, charts the unlikely and secret friendship between Alice Roosevelt, President Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter, and Portia Washington, daughter of educator Booker T. Washington. When the two men developed a friendship, their daughters were unexpectedly brought together in 1901 and began a lifelong relationship that triumphed over race and politics. This relationship was kept under wraps due to the time period and drama that result from President Roosevelt’s and Booker T. Washington’s interactions with each other, but Huguley relies on both research about the two women individually as well as the time period to develop a story of what it would have looked like and how it would have impacted their views of what was happening with respect to race relations in the early 20th century. I found it fascinating to evaluate how much has changed from this time period compared to our current one and to see what has not. American Daughters is a timely read that will have readers thinking about what we all have in common versus focusing on our differences.

Fascinating historical read!

Based around the friendship of Portia Washington, daughter of Booker T. Washington and Alice Roosevelt, the daughter of President Teddy Roosevelt. After meeting in 1901, the two girls keep in touch throughout their lives - it's interesting to see how their culture and race kept them apart, but how their storylines combined. I really enjoyed their story! They both had such different lives, but the friendship kept them close.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

This started a little slowly for me (I think I had to get used to the writing/speaking style), but I loved it in the end! Super interesting stories about interesting women in history. I squealed a little when Portia met Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in Europe, I'm a musician and I recognized his name right away! This book made me want to read more about both Portia and Alice, and the fight for women's suffrage. I got a very teeny hint of some romance-esque writing in a few parts, but it wasn't enough to bother me ;) Really good book! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I very much enjoyed this story of the improbable friendship between Alice Roosevelt (daughter of Teddy) and Portia Washington.(daughter of Booker T.). Although I did not find myself emotionally drawn to either of the main characters, the story was interesting enough that I kept turning the pages. I will be recommending this to my fellow historical fiction fans!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received an advanced readers edition from Net galley in exchange for my honest opinions.

I have complete mixed feelings on this one. I LOVE LOVE love Alice Roosevelt (second only by slightly to TR). Alice is that brave mouthy soul I long to be, summed up beautifully in a quote from TR- Look I can either control Alice or I can control the country. There's all these lovely stories where she thumbed her nose at convention and did her own thing. It's this portrayal of her that I did not love this book. She's waspish, and unpleasant, none of her political savy shines through.

But the flip side of that is Portia Washington, who I'd not heard much about before. This part drew me in, made me go learn more. In a way her part sort of redeemed the book for me. Obviously, I knew of the two fathers friendship but not so much of the daughters. So in the end I didn't love or hate this book.

AMERICAN DAUGHTERS is the story of two strong-minded women from the early twentieth century. Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt couldn’t be two more different people, and yet they had much more in common than people realize. It makes sense that they would become friends in real life.

While their friendship is the book’s hook, AMERICAN DAUGHTERS is really a story about two women discovering who they are as individuals. Alice and Portia begin the book as girls and as the years progress learn how to step out of their famous father’s shadows and carve out identities that are their own. You find yourself rooting for them - especially Portia - to embrace their full potential.

Huguley does a spectacular job of capturing the two women’s disparate personalities and voices. I was deeply invested in their stories.

One more thing: One of things I like about Huguley’s books, both AMERICAN DAUGHTERS and OF HER OWN DESIGN, is the way she portrays the racism of the times. There’s always a shadow of it, no matter what’s happening on the page. Her books are exactly the reason we need the #ownvoices movement.

In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt and teacher Booker T. Washington meet, and the president under estimated the fall out of him inviting a man of colour to dinner at the White House. Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt came from a wealthy family, while Booker T. Washington was born a slave, he runs a school called the Tuskegee Institute in Atlanta and it’s built on the grounds of an old plantation.

Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington become friends, they had to be careful how they catch up, American is segregated, and the emancipation proclamation was only thirty eight years ago.

Portia is first African American to graduate from Bradford Academy in Massachusetts and from her father's first marriage, she's a talented pianist, Portia performs both classical music and African American spiritual music, songs that were sung by slaves picking cotton and she doesn't want the music to be lost and it's part of her culture and heritage. Alice is a bit of a rebel, she gets up to all sorts of mischief and her step-mother Edith is keen for her to make her debut and find a husband.

Alice marries Congressman Nicholas Longworth III of Ohio and two years later Portia marries a coloured architect William Sidney Pittman and he attended her father’s school. Despite distance and responsibilities getting in the way of them seeing each other the two women stay friends and confidants. Both are busy, Alice advocates for women’s rights and is a supporter of the Republican Party, while Portia gives piano lessons and teaches music.

I received a copy of American Daughters by Piper Huguley from William Morrow and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A well written and thoroughly researched novel that looks at what it was like to be the daughters of two of the most influential men of their time, one is white and the other a woman of colour and they referred to themselves as a "motherless child." Ms. Huguley story is though provoking, it brings up relevant topics such as differences in class, politics, racism, the ups and downs of marriage, spousal abuse, I particularly liked how Portia played her traditional African music, her values and she was a great example to young coloured girls and still is.

Beautifully constructed prose and an interesting narrative about two women's lives spanning from 1901 to 1930, I'm very keen to read other books by Piper Huguley, I highly recommend American Daughters and five stars from me.

I loved this story of the unlikely friendship between Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington.

Alice is the daughter of President Teddy Roosevelt and Portia is the daughter of Booker T Washington. Their 20-year friendship withstands marriage, infidelities, children, career changes and the state of the world during that period.

Piper Huguley has done an amazing amount of research and her own special fiction to make a compelling story that I loved.

Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for the chance to read and review this wonderful book.

Very well researched and well written historical fiction about two very strong women forging a lifelong friendship against the views of their time. I truly enjoyed this book and will recommend to all my history buff friends!

This was so well researched and such great people to base a historical fiction book on. I've seen a few books about Alice Roosevelt floating around but I love the addition of Portia Washington. They are a good match and provided differing perspectives of life as a debutante in the early 1900s.

Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt meet as young women when their famous fathers, Booker T. Washington and President Teddy Roosevelt, have a meeting. They become friends and pen pals, and marvel at house similar their upbringings and lives are to each other. From strong and loving fathers, frigid stepmothers, strong opinions, abusive and unhappy marriages; to wanting independence in a time when women were not allowed a voice or a career, both women made their marks on society.

I really enjoyed this dual perspective historical fiction novel. I loved how they were foils for each other and the author's imaged scenes between them. Their family and societal constrains created lots of tension and I thought the author did a good job of using facts and fiction to make these characters come alive. Don't miss the author's note at the end to see what real accounts she based this on.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

Another well written story about two women who would not have likely been friend with each other during that time, Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt, daughters of Booker T. Washington and Former President Teddy Roosevelt. This story was astounding and captivating and kept me entertained. And although under normal circumstances race and socioeconomical status would have kept them apart, they developed a routine. Piper is one of the best when it comes to historical fiction stories, and this one is definitely in that category. It was such a page turner. It was so inspiring and informative, and caused me to do more research in both of these incredible and remarkable women. And let's not talk about a certain person that irritated me (let's just say, that person was not much of a likable character) I especially enjoyed Portia's growth throughout the story. Well done.

This was an interesting story about two fascinating women. I really enjoyed watching their relationship develop over the years. Recommended if you enjoy historical fiction about real historical figures. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

I consider a historical novel a success if it causes me to seek out more information on the subjects or people involved. American Daughters by Piper Huguley had me burning up the Google search box!

It's a very interesting story about an unlikely friendship between two women I'd known virtually nothing about: Portia Washington (daughter of Booker T.) and Alice Roosevelt (daughter of Teddy). In addition to having famous fathers, Portia and Alice both experience the loss of their mothers shortly after being born. Both grow up with stepmothers with whom they are less than close, and both possess a lifelong desire to make their beloved fathers proud, In American Daughters, Huguley does a great job of showing how these often-painful shared experiences draw them together and strengthen their friendship at a time when interracial friendships were both rare and frowned upon.

Huguley has a light hand but does not sugarcoat the particular racism of the time or how it is reflected in the friendship between these two women. Alice and her family casually toss around racist terms and assumptions while seemingly unaware of their impact. Each time, we see Portia internally wince and chafe at the disrespect to her and her beloved father and to Black people in general, although she is not in a position to call it out. Over time Alice seems to grow in sensitivity and understanding, learning to be a more supportive, less ignorant friend.

Their friendship is often conducted at a distance, with both of them relocating and traveling and having their hands full with their very different lives over the years, and yet Huguley deftly portrays numerous moments in which they turn to each other because they expect no one else would understand a particular struggle they're facing. The ways they respond with sensitivity to each other at these times are the most touching moments in the book.

Both women come into their own over the course of their lives, developing and using their formidable talents--Portia's in music and Alice's in politicking--in ways that bring them pride and satisfaction in addition to supporting others' dreams. Both women are less lucky in love but manage to find some freedom there as well. Huguley's skills are apparent here too as she shows the constraints and expectations heaped on "respectable" women of the time.

While I did not become deeply emotionally involved with the main characters (except for a few times when I wanted to commit murder on their behalf), this story was very interesting. I enjoyed and learned from American Daughters, and I expect I'll be thinking of it for quite some time.

Thank you to Ms. Huguley and to the publisher for the honor of reading an ARC of this work; the words and opinions I've expressed here are entirely my own.

4.5 stars

Thank you to @netgalley and @WilliamMorrow for this ARC. Booker T Washington's daughter and President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter are both of the age of coming out. They meet at a chance event where both their father's were speaking. Portia, 18 and Alice, 17 are both daughters of ghost mothers (mothers that died in childbirth) and found solace in each other. The two strike up an unlikely friendship for the next 40 years. Though they couldn't be seen together in public due to the color of their skin, they continued their friendship through private meetings and letters all through courting, marriage, children and deaths. I loved this untold story! #AmericanDaughters #PiperHuguley #WilliamMorrow #May2024

Thanks to William Morrow for an advanced copy of American Daughters by Piper Huguley.

I love Alice Roosevelt, so I was excited to see a historical fiction that looks at the friendship of Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt, the daughters of Booker T. Washington and President Teddy Roosevelt. Told over twenty years we see the friendship between these two women who are separated by societal status and culture but face similar challenges being the daughters of famed statesmen.

I loved seeing the similarities between these two ambitious women who were almost ahead of their time. I also liked how this was told in alternating chapters by each woman, but the timelines didn't always mesh so that did get a little confusing. Biographical fiction is a genre that has been becoming more popular in historical fiction and I like how the author talked about how there isn't many historical records of the two together, so while based on their two lives, this is much more of a fictional narrative about what their friendship may have looked like.

I really enjoyed this book and after both this and By Her Own Design, I will look forward to a new Piper Huguley book!

American Daughters by Piper Huguley is a wonderful historical read centered around the unlikely friendship between Portia, the daughter of Booker T. Washington, and Alice, President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter. The story begins in the early 1900s when the President invited Washington, a Black educator and author, to dine at the White House. This historic invitation sets the stage for American Daughters and the poignant and powerful friendship that blossoms between African American Portia and white Alice. From debutante balls to marriages and pregnancies, Portia and Alice's friendship endures. The story is beautifully told by Huguley, who draws you in from the first page. Highly recommend this historical novel. Colleges should incorporate this book into their English major curriculum due to its brilliant depiction of these historical figures and the time period in which they lived.

What a great read for women's history month. I love Piper's historical fiction novels. This would be amazing, in my opinion, in audio. As others mentioned the timeline muddles for me and the pace is slower than i'd like. Still a must-read if you like fiction about people you rarely hear from about.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I was unbelievably excited when I heard that Piper Huguley’s next book would be about the friendship between Alice Roosevelt and Portia Washington. Coming out amid a surge of historical fiction highlighting interracial friendships between prominent historical figures, I continue to be stunned at what gets left to the margins of history, especially as I’ve previously read a book about Alice with no mentions of Portia. I also knew next to nothing about Booker T. Washington, never mind that he had a daughter. American Daughters aims to correct this, and more or less succeeds.
I love how the narrative explores not just the parallels between Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington, which made them meeting so significant in the racially fraught times of the early twentieth century, but how Alice and Portia bonded as the daughters of these very important men with all these expectations placed on them. In spite of racial lines dividing them, I was stunned to see how their lives paralleled, with both of them being whip-smart and very like their fathers, but being held back by the gender roles of the time. Both end up in emotionally stifling, loveless marriages, and struggle to try to achieve their dreams and continue their work alongside their respective fathers.
But while the book did highlight this fairly well, I feel like the structural choices hindered the overall thesis of the book as much as it helped. The timeline is not entirely linear, with it going on a tangent following one of them, than going back to catch the reader up on the other. It was most frustrating when Portia was experiencing motherhood, and there was an offhand comment after seeing Alice that she “wouldn’t see her again until she became a mother herself,” and then there was a big recap of everything that happened since we last saw Alice before we were previously following Portia. I feel like their bond would have been more effective if we had seen their lives play out chronologically alongside one another, and be allowed to connect the dots for ourselves, instead of it being built around highlighting their similarities so bluntly to the point of almost fudging the timelines.
That minor issue aside, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to readers interested in historical fiction about the families of US presidents and other prominent historical figures, and stories highlighting the friendships across racial lines throughout history.