My Theodosia [Paperback]

Anya Seton (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Coronet (1973)
• ASIN: B000S90XP0
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,006,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I just love Anya Seton!, June 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Theodosia (Hardcover)

I read this in high school, this tragic tale of the ill-fated daughter of former vice- president Aaron Burr, and wife of Govenor Joseph Alston, Theodosia Burr Alston, who is said to haunt a beach in South Carolina. In 1812 Theodosia was on a ship that went down off the coast of North Carolina. The bodies of all the others lost at sea washed up, but hers was never found.

It never ceases to amaze me how well Anya Seton can take historical facts, and blend with them just enough drama to make them readable, but not innacurate.

You will not be able to put it down.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid first outing for Seton, August 11, 2007

By 

Misfit (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: My Theodosia (Rediscovered Classics) (Paperback)

This book tells the story of Aaron Burr and his daughter Theodosia (Theo). I have to admit I didn't recall much of Burr from history class outside of the duel with Alexander Hamilton. At the start of the book Theo is 17 and Burr is vice president of the United States. Burr plots to have Theo married to the wealthy but uninteresting Joseph Alston of South Carolina. Burr needs some of that money to cover his debts and also the power of the Alstons to gain him political support in the south. The relationship between Burr and Theo is closer than most father/daughter relationships and Burr is able to manipulate Theo into his increasingly risky and treasonous schemes that distance her ever further from any satisfying relationship she might forge with her husband, and her greatest joy in life is her young son.

There are lots of well known names in the story as Theo interacts with them -- Washington Irving (a minor character), Meriwether Lewis (sigh!), Dolly Madison, Alexander Hamilton and more. I love the way she sets her scenes and writes the various dialects, it's like you really hear them as they would be spoken. Her characters could have been fleshed out better, there is so much subject material in the Burr story and it's twists and turns that could be turned into a gloriously fat and meaty work of historical fiction. Writers out there -- HINT HINT HINT.

Be advised that if you read up on Aaron and Theo on the internet prior to finishing the book you will end up with some spoilers on your hands. However, do look Theo up afterwards and the legends surrounding her mysterious disappearance and the strange ghost that haunts a Carolina shore. Lastly, I was very glad there was not another forward by Philppa Gregory. The one she wrote for Devil Water and the way she obsessed about the too close relationship between father and daughter really irked me to no end.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but not as gripping as some of Seton's other works, March 21, 2007

By 

Ryner (Chaska, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Theodosia (Mass Market Paperback)

Theodosia Burr is the smart, adoring, seventeen-year-old daughter of Aaron Burr, who was vice-president at a time when one attained the office by being the runner-up in a presidential election. Thus, the president, Thomas Jefferson, is actually his political rival. Having run into both political and financial hardship, Aaron arranges for Theodosia to marry Joseph Alston, a wealthy but unattractive and dull Carolina planter. Shocked that her father would be desperate enough to send her to such a fate, but resigned, Theodosia goes willingly and begins her life at The Oaks, Joseph's plantation. A son brings her boy joy and pain, as does a clandestine relationship with Meriwether Lewis who, along with William Clark, is about to embark on his famous exploration into the unknown western territory.

Theodosia's ultimate fate is suggested at the end of the book, although the reality is that it is still a mystery. This book appears to be out of print, which is unfortunate as Anya Seton is very talented and has become one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. I didn't enjoy this work quite as well as some of her others, but it's definitely worth a read.