The American Daughters

"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.

Author: Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 03/04/2025
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.10w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9780593729410
ISBN10: 0593729412
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Historical | 19th Century | American Civil War Era
- Fiction | African American & Black | Women
- Fiction | Sagas

About the Author
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.