Last Updated on February 28, 2024 by BiblioLifestyle

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

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Set in pre-Civil War New Orleans, we follow Ady, an enslaved girl who joins a secret resistance movement run by women who are fighting against slavery and sabotaging the Confederacy.   That’s what you can expect in “The American Daughters” by Maurice Carlos Ruffin.  So in this episode, Maurice shares insights into “The American Daughters” and our conversation unravels the layered relationships between Ady and her mother, Sanite, and Lenore, a free Black woman and owner of the Mockingbird Inn which is a cover for a secret resistance movement.  Maurice also shares more about his writing process and his intentions while sharing how he uses documents and journals within his narrative to serve as a bridge between the past, present, and future. We also discuss his previous works “We Cast a Shadow” and “The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You.”  Wrapping up, we peek into Maurice’s upcoming projects and he shares a great list of book recommendations.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin on Amazon or Bookshop. 

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin on Amazon or Bookshop.   

BOOKS MENTIONED DURING THE SHOW

BOOKS READ, LOVED, AND WOULD NOW RECOMMEND

• I’ll Give You a Reason by Annell López 
• The Fetishist by Katherine Min 
• The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. 

CHILDHOOD FAVORITES

• The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg 
• Garfield by Jim Davis 
• Guinness World Records 
• Choose Your Own Adventure books 
• Comics: X-Men, Fantastic Four, Captain America 
• Maya Angelou 

CURRENTLY READING & BOOKS ON THE TBR

• Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino 
• Bear by Julia Phillips 
• Ours by Phillip B. Williams
• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

About Maurice Carlos Ruffin

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.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin on Amazon or Bookshop.   

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