"Papa thinks it safe for us to return to Monticello. But we are unhappy. The Continental Congress has asked Papa to sail way across the ocean to France to help Dr. Franklin make peace with the British. Mama is not strong enough to make a voyage to France, and surely Papa will not leave us."
Thomas Jefferson did not leave Patsy and her mother in 1781. But when her mother died a year later, Patsy became her father's special companion, and she traveled with him on political missions from Monticello to Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and New York before sailing to Europe. Patsy's many experiences are carefully recorded, giving us a personal sense of what the world was like in America and France. Her comments on her inventive father provide a unique close-up look at the man who would become our country's third President.
Mrs. Bourne's research into original letters and documents brings Patsy's world alive with authenticity. Illustrations by Laszlo Kubinyi add to the charm and interest of this engrossing ten-year account.
—from the dust jacket
This fictional diary of "Patsy" Jefferson records the highlights of her life with "Papa" Thomas Jefferson from the time he was elected governor of Virginia in 1779 until his return from France in 1789.
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