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3.5 

The American Daughters

By Maurice Carlos Ruffin
The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

“An enthralling tale of a secret resistance movement run by Black women in pre-Civil War New Orleans.”—Time

“Stirring . . . In telling this important, neglected history with imagination-fueled research, The American Daughters offers an inspiring story of people who show a way forward with their perseverance, bravery and love.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

AN ELECTRIC LIT AND KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR


Ady, a curious, sharp-witted girl, and her fierce mother, Sanite, are inseparable. Enslaved to a businessman in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the pair spend their days reminiscing about their family’s rebellious and storied history and dreaming of a loving future. When mother and daughter are separated, Ady is left hopeless and directionless until she stumbles into the Mockingbird Inn and meets Lenore, a free Black woman with whom she becomes fast friends. Lenore invites Ady to join a clandestine society of spies called the Daughters. With the courage instilled in her by Sanite—and with help from these strong women—Ady learns how to put herself first. So begins her journey toward liberation and imagining a new future.

The American Daughters is a novel of hope and triumph that reminds us what is possible when a community bands together to fight for their freedom.

131 Reviews

3.5
Expressionless Face“What even was this? Not a book about the American Daughters, I can say that, since they are only a part of the end of the book. And since the summary (and title!) make this seem like a book featuring this as the plot, it’s very confusing. I wished I DNFd this, but since it was the first book of 2025, I powered through but now know it was a waste of my time. The pacing is inconsistent, slow in the middle, fast at the end (and what was that ending??), a romance that doesn’t seem to fit into the story at all, and I didn’t find the characters interesting at all. It’s too bad, what an interesting part of history to write about but a lost opportunity.”

About Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, which was longlisted for the Story Prize and was a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and We Cast a Shadow, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN Open Book Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and International Dublin Literary Award. A recipient of an Iowa Review Award in fiction, he has been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, AGNI, the Kenyon Review, The Massachusetts Review, and Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas. A native of New Orleans, he is a graduate of the University of New Orleans Creative Writing Workshop and a professor of creative writing at Louisiana State University.

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