Somebody's daughter : a memoir /
Ashley C. Ford
- London Manila Press 2021
- 212p.
"One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with a compelling memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the ever-looming absence of her incarcerated father and the path we must take to both honour and overcome our origins. Ashley has put her father on a pedestal for as long as she can remember. Despite having only vague memories of seeing him face-to-face, she believes he's the only person in the entire world who understands her. She thinks she understands him too. He's sensitive like her, an artist, and maybe even just as afraid of the dark. She's certain they'll be reunited one day again, and she'll finally feel complete. There are just a few problems: he's in prison, and she doesn't know what he did to end up there. Through poverty, puberty, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley returns to her father's image for hope and encouragement. She doesn't know how to deal with the constant worries that keep her up at night or handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates; when the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley finally finds out why her father is in prison. And that's where the story begins. Somebody's Daughter steps into the world of growing up as a poor Black girl, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and environment, she provides a poignant coming-of-age recollection that speaks to finding the threads between who you are and what you were born into and the complicated familial love that often binds them. 'Ashley Ford's prose is glass-so clear, sharp and smooth that the reader sees, in vivid focus, her complicated childhood, brilliant mind, and golden heart. The gravity and urgency of Somebody's Daughter anchored me to my chair and slowed my heartbeat-like no book has since Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Ashley Ford is a writer for the ages, and Somebody's Daughter will be a book of the year.'-- Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed and founder of Together Rising
9781786581280
United States African American women Children of prisoners Prisoners' families African American families Families African American women -- Biography. African American families -- Biography.