I recently read Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America byCatherine Kerrison. This is a very well researched and engaging book. I liked the book and the history it provided. But I wouldn’t call it a true historical account. It’s more of a quasi-historical account. There are two reasons why I feel it is a quasit-historical account.
First, there is too much conjecture and speculation. There is little to no information on two of the three daughters. Ms Kerrison extrapolates what she thinks they were thinking and doing. I feel this is a very slippery slope to go down. We have no way of knowing what they thought. This was a very different time and we can’t assume the key players would think they same as we do today. By extraplating thoughts and actions, the author makes this book more of a fictional account of what may have happened. Also there is no way to refute her assumptions as there are no historical documents that either support or disprove.
The second issue I have is everything is interrupted through a 21st centruy view inlcuding their motivations for doing certain acts. While having the background of how the socal norms were during this time is very important, Ms Kerrison takes it a step further and interrupts these norms for the reader based on 21st century thoughts. Also Ms Kerrison negative opinion of some of the social norms is very evident in her writing.
While the book is more of a quasi-historical story, it is very engaging. It was a quick read. I liked that it didn’t try to hide or attempt to smooth over the negative aspects of each of the daughters lives. It showed how much influence Jefferson exerted on his oldest duaghter Martha’s education and how his influence extended into her life as an adult. His influence on the other two duaghtrs appears to have been minimial. Overall I’d recommend this book but would caution the reader to pay attention to what is actual fact verses speculation.
