So imagine our surprise when, on August 12, 2015, we saw an announcement from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation that a family of descendants had made publicly available a cache of new and previously unknown letters, most of which were addressed to the heroine of this novel during the years in which she lived in Paris.
Our excitement at learning there were, indeed, new things to discover about our heroine was matched only by our anxiety that we might not get the chance to include them in this novel. We knew that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to write in entirely new storylines—which Patsy’s previously unknown relationship with the Duke of Dorset might have justified because of what it reveals both about our heroine’s life choices and the political ramifications of the attention she received, not to mention her father’s state of mind. But we hoped that by adding many new details into the existing story—such as our heroine’s popularity with the men in Paris, the anonymous love notes she received, her closeness with her convent friends, and the artificial flowers she made to give as gifts—our book would offer the most current study of Martha Jefferson Randolph, including information not revealed in any of her biographies to date.
A particular favorite among the new letters was this one, from Maria Ball to Patsy, dated June 23, 1789: “I make you my compliments Dear Jefferson, as you took the prize. I heard of your party at the Palais Royale with the Duke of Dorset and his two nieces. A gentleman told me he had seen you and that you remained there till it was quite duskish and that the duke seemed to care very much about you, which I am not surprised, my dear Jef. His choice can only honor him and make many, many people jealous.”* Letters like this bring Patsy’s younger years to life in a way that rarely happens in the eighteenth century, and absolutely enchanted us, especially when we learned that on August 7, 1789, the duke sent Patsy a “simple ring” as a token of his affection after she’d refused to accept a diamond ring—and, possibly, a proposal—he’d given her. In the eighteenth century, a diamond ring need not have signified an intent of marriage, but the context of Patsy’s refusal led us to think that she could’ve been a duchess!
Thankfully, the team at William Morrow was as excited about this development as we were and made special allowances for us to dig through the treasure trove of new letters to bring the heroine of this book even more fully alive. We hope you enjoy reading these details as much as we enjoyed discovering them.
—SD & LK
Walking in Patsy Jefferson’s Footsteps
A Conversation with the Authors
BEFORE UNDERTAKING this project, the authors separately visited Monticello and other historical sites in Virginia and France. However, in writing together, they thought a joint field trip to some of the Virginia settings in America’s First Daughter was called for. And, oh, the adventure they had.
Laura: There were a couple of reasons I wanted to take this joint field trip to Virginia. First, since I was a girl walking the Antietam Battlefield, I’ve always felt that past events and people leave a mark on places. To me, a site’s past often feels tangibly present. So I wanted to see what Monticello and Tuckahoe felt like. As a historian, I’ve always believed there is a lot to be gained from walking in a historical person’s footsteps—learning what you can see from her room or how long it will take to walk between places or how sound travels through a house all give you a deeper understanding that you can’t always get from documents, especially for a novel where you want the evocative details. Even more than writing nonfiction, writing fiction requires you to get inside the head and heart of a historical figure, and putting yourself in their physical spaces helps with that in so many unexpected ways. Field trips were always a big part of my teaching, and they certainly inform how I learn about the past, too.