AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick
The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of
Bitter and Sweet returns with a powerful exploration of the love that
binds a family across the generations in "one of the most beautiful
books of motherhood and what we pass on to those that come after us"
(Jenna Bush Hager, Today).
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 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 the 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. Can Dorothy break the cycle of pain
and abandonment to finally find peace for her daughter and love for
herself? Or will she end up paying the ultimate price?
"For Jamie Ford fans both old and new, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
is an unmitigated pleasure" (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times
bestselling author) and a lyrical love story unlike any other.
