A lightly fictionalized account of Theodosia Burr, only child of Aaron Burr. I don't know much of Burr except the famous duel and he comes across as a complex character here; vain, power-mad, beset by jealousies, but also charismatic and able to inspire deep devotion in some people. Theo adores him and will never see anything he does as wrong, though it leads her to an adult life that seems mostly full of misery. Seton seems to have done a great deal of research but it appears the historical facts are scanty and she never quite brings Theo to life. Even if she had, I'm not sure I would find much to enjoy about her. The slavish devotion to her father is strange but she also seems to fall deeply in love at the drop of a hat and inspire love in most men she encounters. As well as she created the world of the Burrs, I didn't believe as much in the people so it fell at bit flat.

I was entranced by this story when I first read it, and was delighted to find that it stood up on rereading. Its really the story of a rather intense and not too healthy father-daughter relationship. How does a young woman reconcile when either her idealized father falls from grace? And what happens when despite this no one else seems to be quite as wonderful? ( )

Daughter of America's Napoleon, 1 Oct. 2012
By
sally tarbox

This review is from: My Theodosia (Paperback)
Really readable and enjoyable story of Theodosia, daughter of charismatic and ambitious Vice-President Aaron Burr. Levered into an unsatisfying marriage which will benefit her father, Theodosia is sent to the fever-filled lands of the Waccamaw Neck in S. Carolina, where her husband owns a plantation.
Yet everything in her life takes second place to the father she adores:
'you appear to me so superior, so elevated above all other men, I contemplate you with such a strange mixture of humility, admiration, reverence, love and pride, that very little superstition would be necessary to make me worship you as a superior being' (from an actual letter she wrote in 1809).
However her father's star is on the wane- debt, killing a political rival in a dual, and his subsequent grandiose schemes to become- like his contemporary Napoleon- an emperor, lead to his being a wanted man...
Seton conjures up the world of 1800s Carolina particularly well: the scenery, the 'gullah' slave communities, the plantations and the disease.
Some of the romantic scenes were faintly Mills and Boonish, but I did enjoy the book and learnt so much! ( )

Excellent character, especially considering I'd never heard of her before reading the book. Also a fascinating image of how American life might have been post-Revolution. ( )

Annoying, uninteresting to me because of the characters covered (never heard of Aaron Burr before, clearly was supposed to have). Racist and offensive. Still finished it mind you, so there are worse books I've picked up. ( )