INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
"One of the most beautiful books of motherhood and what we pass on
to those that come after us." --Jenna Bush Hager, Today
The New York Times bestselling author of the "mesmerizing and
evocative" (Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants) Hotel on the
Corner of Bitter and Sweet returns with a powerful exploration of the
love that binds one family across the generations.
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.
