The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
Jamie Ford 
Publication date: August 2, 2022 by Atria Books
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷


Summary: Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living. 

As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help. 

Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.

As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.

My Thoughts: This was a story like no other. Jamie Ford took historical fiction and spun it on its head by incorporating elements of other genres that aligned together to form a genuinely unique story. While many books offer elements of multiple genres, this book specifically read like no other historical fiction this reader has come across before. 

In this newest release Ford wrote the story of six women. The women were part of an unknowing cycle that they themselves created. Their trauma traveled from one generation to the next until it got to the point where it almost broke one of their own. 

Each life explored in the pages of this book was vividly described and emotionally taunt. Each life provided a glimpse into the time period's sights and sounds. Each life will transport the reader into another world. Each life will ferret out a wide range of emotions from the reader. 

This book dares the reader to look at their own lives and their own ancestors and question what they themselves have inherited. 

 

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