Somebody’s Daughter – Mini Book Review

Author: Ashley C. Ford

Genre: Memoir

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Publication Date: June 1, 2021

Book Description: Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley Ford wishes she could turn to her father for hope and encouragement. There are just a few problems: he’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to 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 desperately searches for meaning in the chaos. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father’s incarceration . . . and Ashley’s entire world is turned upside down.

Somebody’s Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor, Black girl in Indiana with a family fragmented by incarceration, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.

Rating: 4 Stars

Mini Review: When I heard about this memoir, I had never heard of Ashley C. Ford. However I really trusted the source, so I thought I would give this a try. What I found was a very thoughtful writer, who put herself entirely on the page for her readers.

Ford grew up in poverty. Her father was in prison and she had issues with her mother and the men she would bring into her and her brother’s lives. As she grows up she is put into some impossible positions including being raped by her first boyfriend at a very young age.

This was a solid memoir that Ford wrote. You will laugh and cry with her as she tells her very personal story of growing up to where she is now. This is a memoir that I think will be loved by many people.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.