Defending Alice is a historical fiction book I've read based on actual events and people.
Chronicled by Alice’s attorney, trial lawyer Lee Parsons Davis, taking place during the Roaring 20's when interracial marriages weren't as accepted as today.
Leonard “Kip” Rhinelander comes from a high-class New York upper crust high society family and is white. Alice Jones is a working woman and their relationship set the tongues to wagging and caused a scandal. Kip is perceived as a weak individual unable to stand up to his father who wants the marriage annulled immediately. According to the father Kip was seduced into the marriage having no experience with women by a woman who passed as white but didn't tell him of her mixed-race blood. Alice claims she did not hide the fact she has at least one black parent and the couple is in love. The grounds for annulment were Alice married into this prominent family for the money and social standing she would receive with the marriage.
What follows is flashbacks of the couple's relationship and the long trial case.
As you can imagine the trial drags on and on with Alice's name being drawn through the mud and her spineless husband not sticking up for himself or his wife. Sex, lies, prejudice, race and class, just as relevant today as they were back nearly a century ago when this trial took place figure prominently into the story.

Pub Date 22 Nov 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a great book. I do not seeing myself using it for education, but definitely will recommend for those looking for something good to read.

I'm a fan of historical fiction, and particularly stories based on actual events. This story was new to me, and the author did a great job at setting the background and portraying the events. Set in the 1920's, this tells the story of Alice and Leonard Rhinelander, the love story of a black woman and the prominent but "difficult" son of a wealthy white family. As you can imagine, the family is not accepting, and Leonard "Kip" is not strong-minded in his opinions, leading to a headline-making annulment case. This was a fascinating story of the times, despite the fact that opinions and the mindset of the players and public were not unique. I did feel that some portions of the book were redundant and long, and wished that some sections could have been more succinct. Still an interesting read for those interested in the times. Thanks so much to Richard Stratton, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-arc.

I tried to get into this one. Has a great story but the development and telling was dragging to a point that I DNF the novel. This type of story has potential. Not sure if it was because of the narration of the lawyer vs the main character, but it dragged for me. Thanks for the preview! Very helpful!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. This book was such a page turner and the topic so powerful. Even in today's world. I could not stop reading once I got started. This is a must read.

My biggest complaint is that this book is entirely too long for the story being told. Lots of repeats and unnecessary elements.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Defending Alice is an eye-opening portrayal of events that should be more widely known. This book brings out the gamut of emotions from admiration to horror.

Defending Alice by Richard Stratton. Pub Date: November 22, 2022. Rating: 1 star. Honestly, I am saddened that I did not enjoy this book at all. I love the historical fiction genre and thought this sounded perfect, but it was too long and repetitive for my liking. I found it really difficult to stay focused on the story due to the long winded nature of this novel. Hopefully someone else liked it, but it was not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley #defendingalice

I was so excited for this book! it sounded so good, forbidden love! I love a good historical fiction book with a love story however I did not like the legal aspect of this book. it made it boring and I like character development told from the perspective of the characters themselves more than anything.

I thought this book could have been way more interesting if it was not so repetitive and long. I think I would have preferred execution of this book a different way, it was hard to stay engaged in the story and therefore I dnf'd it more than halfway through. I am very appreciative of this arc and I thank you for allowing me to write my honest opinion.

Even though this one is historical fiction. I feel like I did learn a lot a bout a lesser known piece of US history. Who says you can't learn from fiction.

I would like to thank NetGalley and HarperVia for allowing me to read this book. The subject interested me because it was once again a story of forbidden love. Alice marries Kip and Kip's family, influential as all get out, doesn't accept the marriage. They want the marriage annulled but Alice fights it. This book was really good!

This is a book that I truly wanted to read and enjoy. Unfortunately, even though there were aspects I enjoyed, I couldn't get past being told the same information over and over. I don't mind reading longer books if the information included in all the pages is relevant. However, if it's repetitive, I find myself frustrated and that's exactly what happened with this book. I only read until about midway and just couldn't finish it.

I won't be posting a review elsewhere out of respect for the author. I'm sorry this wasn't a good match for me - I truly thought it would be.

A tale of forbidden love in the 1920s; Philip Rhinelander does not approve of his son Leonard’s marriage to Alice Jones because she is of mixed race. He has forced Leonard to appeal the marriage and the couple finds themselves in court as Alice refuses to back down. But will Leonard fight for their love with her or let it go to keep his access to his family’s money?

I had high hopes for this storyline; a tale of forbidden love in the roaring 20s. But it fell flat and I ended up listening to it on double speed as an audiobook. The majority of the story is told through Alice’s lawyer, which makes it hard to connect to the characters and is very repetitive. And Leonard was a huge letdown. I wanted him to fight for her, for it to be a story of love prospering in the 1920s. Instead, we were left with a long, crude court case. I wouldn’t put this book at the top of your tbr pile, but if you like courtroom dramas, perhaps this book is for you.

Thank you so much to Richard Stratton, NetGalley, and HarperVia for an ARC of Defending Alice.

Had all the elements of a good book – History, Intrigue, Scandal -- but somehow lost me with long drawn-out chapters, repetition, and overall dull writing. Turned into a skim, and then a DNF.

I received a complimentary ARC of this historical novel from Netgalley, the author Richard Stratton, and publisher Harper. I have read "Defending Alice" of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am pleased to add Richard Stratton to my favorite authors. He writes a compelling novel with excellent historical background and a story to find you reading late into the night. This story was based on an actual case that was fought in the courts of New York state in the 1920s.

Based in the NYC area during the 1920s, Defending Alice is a novel to open your eyes and play your heartstrings. Alice is the daughter of English immigrants who settled in New Rochelle, New York many years ago. Our story is told in the first person by Alice's lawyer, Lee Parsons Davis, and with snippets from Alice's Diaries and Alice and Len's letter to each other.

Alice's father George Jones is of West Indian descent, a black man with dark skin but European facial features. His wife Elizabeth Jones is a white Englishwoman. Prior to their immigration to the US, they were both in service to a wealthy family in England. Their three daughters are a pleasant and attractive combination of their parent's combined DNA. The Jones family is middle-class, well-liked, and active in schools, church, and community in New Rochelle. George owns a fine home, the local Taxi stand and taxis, and several other properties in New Rochelle. The daughters are all well-brought-up ladies who are mannerly and soft-spoken.

The youngest daughter is Grace, still in school and living at home, as does Alice who works two jobs in service. The oldest daughter Emily is married to Robert Brooks, a black man, and they have a young daughter, Roberta. Alice Jones falls in love with and eventually marries Leonard Kip Rhinelander, son of a widowed NYC high society real estate mogul. The couple is joyously happy and living with Alice's parents as they acquire an apartment and begin furnishing it. The future is bright, and the world is their oyster.

And then Leonard is snatched from the Jones home in Pelham Manor by his father's lawyer and spirited away to parts unknown - and Alice is served with papers demanding an annulment of the marriage and charging her with unscrupulous ambition and fraud, with hiding her Black heritage and tricking Leonard into a marriage for financial gain and to elevate her family into the higher strata of society in NYC. With the charges a note was delivered from Len, telling Alice to fight the annulment, but Alice was not allowed to retain that note. And there was an offer of a cash settlement if she would just agree to the annulment. When she refused, the offer was doubled. When she refused that, a trial date was set.

And the world was watching as the case unfolded into the public eye.

I was so excited to crack this book open. A story based on the love story of Alice Jones and Leonard Kip Rhinelander and what went so very wrong. The 1920s was a time of exploration. The flapper, jazz, and the most important the women's right to vote. It is one of my favorite eras to learn about and to be taken back to the high energy and the questionable morals that were occurring. I love that Richard Stratton decided to focus on this interracial couple. Alice from a blue-collar family. Her father from the Caribbean and her mother English. Leonard's family is the exact opposite, they are rich and incredibly powerful. When Leonard's father hears about his son's marriage, he acts quickly to have it annulled. He hauls Leonard out of the Jones' home and locks him up, so he is out of sight and out of mind. Instead of standing up for his relationship and his wife. Leonard shuts down and cannot escape his father's grasp.

This leads to the Jones' family being terrorized by the media and any racist nobody. Bricks thrown through windows, horrifying comments screamed, and their story is plastered everywhere. Alice is incredibly strong and will not back down from her love. She is determined to fight what they are saying that she married only for the money. They are using the excuse that Leonard did not know she was black. Even though he lived with her obviously Black father before his father stepped in. I am still floored by Alice's strength and tenacity during the trial.

I was never pulled into the story. The way in which the book was written made it incredibly hard to become lost in Alice and Leonard's story. It was told through their diaries, letters, and retold by Alice's attorney. There is a ton of repetition being told over and over again. I really wanted to be transported back to the 20s. To be swept away by their love story and what really happened. Instead, I found myself skimming and jumping around the pages, not really being able to focus. Thank you to Richard Stratton and Harpervia for the opportunity to read this book.

I found the premise for the story to be quite compelling. The facts as presented were graphic and gritty. Some parts of the trial were very sure to read. However, I found the writing to be rather dry and stilted.
There were no historical notes or an afterward by the author, which I found to be disappointing. I would have liked to know about his research process. I had never heard of this particular story before so I was hoping for more insight beyond the novel.

I found the premise of the book compelling. I thought there was a lot of legal jargon and Leonard Rhinelander's POV not very interesting. I think the case is very interesting and what happened between both Alice and Leonard very sad and tragic, but I think that parts of the book dragged enough to make me uninterested in what was happening in the trial and between Alice and Leonard and even how willfully annoying Leonard was for not sticking up to his father.

This is such an interesting topic, but the writing style reads more like a non-fiction textbook than a novel, and makes it very hard to get through.

I was excited to read this book based on its synopsis and the promise of a story about love and race in the roaring twenties. This book is based on the story of Alice Jones, who marries into one of New York's most prominent society families and who later gets divorced from her husband and is accused by him of having passed herself off as a white woman. This novel covers many aspects of the couple's marriage, as well as their divorce and the events that happen after. This story seemed a bit too long, in my opinion, and I felt that many parts of the novel dragged on for too long. The author is redundant at times and I frequently found my attention waning as I got deeper into the novel. I had pretty high expectations for this book based on the plot, but I have to admit that I was disappointed. I expected more out of this novel. I really wanted to care more about Alice's story but I found that I could not. I am sure this story will appeal to some, but for me, it unfortunately fell a bit flat.