The American Daughters

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 dreaming of a loving future and reminiscing about their family's rebellious and storied history. 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.

I knew from page one that this wasn't going to be a typical journey through a familiar history . . . A splendid work. Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets
An emotionally and intellectually captivating journey . . . With fully fleshed out characters and enchanting detail, antebellum New Orleans is vivid in Ruffin's rendering, and Ady is an unforgettable protagonist, a character who meets the crossroads of history with remarkable courage and enduring love. Imani Perry, author of South to America
A tour de force . . . an intelligent and haunting novel that grapples with the legacies of American slavery. Lauren Wilkinson, author of American Spy
An enthralling tale 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 New York Times

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the recipient of the 2023 Louisiana Writer Award and the Black Rock Senegal Residency. His first short story collection, The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You, is the 2023 One Book One New Orleans selection, as well as a New York Times Editor's Choice, a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and longlisted for the Story Prize. The book was also selected to represent Louisiana at the 2023 National Book Festival. His first book, We Cast a Shadow, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN America Open Book Prize. It was longlisted for the 2021 DUBLIN Literary Award, the Center for Fiction Prize, and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. The novel was also a New York Times Editor's Choice. Ruffin is the winner of several literary prizes, including the Iowa Review Award in fiction and the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award for Novel-in-Progress.

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