By Cammi Woodall

What do you know about Alice Roosevelt? When I started reading American Princess by Stephanie Marie Thornton, I knew she was the daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and that she (scandalous for the time) smoked cigarettes. Her father once said, “I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice Roosevelt. I cannot possibly do both.”

That was all I knew. (I didn’t even realize her married name was Longworth!) Thornton’s book gives us a fictionalized account of her life, drawn from diaries, newspaper articles, archives, and even Alice’s own autobiography. The tragic deaths of her grandmother and her mother on the same day -just days after her own birth- devastated her father. He withdrew from his small daughter, leaving her in the care of his sister while he retreated to the wilderness. Two years later, he remarried and started a new family. A psychologist would say that Alice’s life was a series of outrageous behavior in a desperate bid to gain his attention. In her own words, “I valued my independence from an early age and was always something of an individualist… Well, a show-off anyway.”

Alice became a public celebrity decades before the Hiltons and Kardashians. Newspapers printed everything about her – her quotes, her clothing, her antics. She cursed, smoked, publicly ridiculed politicians of the time, and carried her pet snake to parties. She drove a car, which was considered ‘fast behavior’, and even dared to ride alone with a man! Oh, the scandal!

This was a woman who, although banned from the White House by more than one president, helped shape the political landscape of our world. Her influence and support could make or break a politician. Alice lived a time when women were supposed to stay quiet and biddable. She, however, was often sent on political trips to other countries to help foster international relations. She attended both the Democratic and Republican conventions for decades. As a hostess throughout her life, her acceptance or disapproval could skew nominations.

This influence continued until her death, with then-President Jimmy Carter saying, “She had style, she had grace, and she had a sense of humor that kept generations of political newcomers to Washington wondering which was worse—to be skewered by her wit or to be ignored by her.”

Some would consider her brash, but she dared to speak her mind about causes dear to her heart. I highly recommend American Princess. Alice Roosevelt Longworth is a colorful, forceful woman who helped pave the way for women’s voices in politics. She deserves for everyone to know her.

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.

Click to tweet: Friday Fiction: American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter, Alice Roosevelt. Alice became a public celebrity decades before the Hiltons and Kardashians. #FridayReads #AliceRoosevelt