3.5 rounded up.
I am not even sure how to rate or review this one. Chances are high I will come back and edit this review in time - I need to stew with it more. This was not my first book by Ford, but very different (other than the historical nature) than the other I read - which I loved. I was very drawn in to The Many Daughters of Afong Moy and read the first 1/4 very quickly. It is the tale of many generations, spanning about 200 years, and the concept of generational trauma being passed in DNA. While well written, the concept of epigenetics was so foreign to me, at times I had a hard time truly understanding what I was even reading. It was a bit of work to keep the timelines and generations straight and thank goodness for that first page with the "Dramatis Personae" - my timeline cheat sheet. :) I referred to it countless times.
We meet Afong Moy, a real historical person, believed to be the first Chinese woman to come to America. We then learn of her fictional generational daughters along the way - who all, like her, experience great pain and suffering, as well as a desire to find great love. As we jump through time, we meet Dorothy who struggles with her mental health and is determined to get better for the sake of her young daughter, Annabel. She seeks experimental treatment wanting to break the cycle.
I can't really say more, you have to just dive in. I did enjoy the book and learned a lot and it has given me much to think about. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the early release copy in exchange for my honest review. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is now available.

The Many Daughters of Afong May by Jamie Ford is a unique novel with many unforgettable characters. The plot spans the past and future with Afong May at its apex. Afong May was abducted and brought to America where she is presented as a curious spectacle. The year is 1836 and Afong is billed as the first Chinese woman to arrive in America. The novel's chapters feature Afong and her female descendants. Each woman has her own interesting story yet they all share some characterisitics. Ford wonders if the contour and texture of our lives are shaped in part by a genetic pre-determination. This is the link that connects Ford's characters and makes this novel very interesting and thought provoking.
Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC.

Afong Moy is the first Chinese woman in mainland U.S. in the 1800s. What follows are a variety of pathways her future generations take, and how trauma shapes their lives.

Ford's take on epigenetic inheritance was thoughtful and thought-provoking as a read. For readers of historical fiction, stick with it as the story comes together and leaves you pondering about how your ancestors shape your life.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Jamie Ford for the free eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford spans centuries - from the 1850s to the year 2045 and beyond. The plot pings around the timelines of matriarch Afong Moy (a real life person considered the first known female Chinese immigrant to the USA) and her imagined female offspring. The book centers around Dorothy, a mid-21st-Century mother who suffers greatly from the echoes of generational trauma, but is determined not to let it affect her young daughter.

Dorothy seeks an experimental treatment on tribal lands that aims to exorcise the neurological haunting of her foremothers once and for all. These ghosts manifest as "deja vu on steroids" and threaten to derail her goals, her sanity, and most alarmingly her daughter's chances of a healthy future.

I don't want to give too much away about this book. I fear I already have. I went in completely blind, which is my favorite method of reading lately. But I DARE you to read the first chapter of this book and not want to continue. I believe it to be the most jaw-dropping opening chapter I've ever read.

This book explores the following themes in a totally imaginative way: parental abandonment, fleeing and the immigrant experience, poetry, being sent away, being alone, longing and belonging, loneliness, home, and maternal grief. There's a lot of pain described on these pages. But the plot will grab you, the narrative will make you think, and I even feel like I learned new things about historical events I'd never read about before.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in historical fiction, generational trauma, the immigrant experience, or if you just enjoy a compelling novel that will make you feel and think deeply. It's so well done and original!

Author of such other books as Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Songs of Willow Frost, Jamie Ford’s latest novel, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, is dedicated to “anyone with a complicated origin story.” It depicts seven generations of women in a family, beginning with Afong Moy, believed to be the first Chinese woman in the United States, and continuing into 2086.

Ford divides the book into three acts, much like a play, and an epilogue. Each act consists of three to ten chapters from varying points of view, acquainting readers with a Moy family woman from each of the seven generations. To avoid confusion, Ford includes a Dramatis Personae list before Act I, again as in a play. Readers can easily turn to it to see the seven women listed in order by generation. Completing the caste of characters are Lai King Moy, Afong Moy’s daughter, sent back to China following a San Francisco plague; Lai King’s daughter Fei-Jin “Faye” Moy, who becomes a nurse and falls in love with a dying American Flying Tiger in Kunming, China, during Japan’s war with China; Faye’s daughter Zoe, who attends an unorthodox “rule free” British boarding school; Zoe’s daughter Greta, a computer program developer, who achieves overnight fame; Greta’s daughter Dorothy, a one-time U.S. poet laureate; and Dorothy’s five-year-old daughter Annabel, whose name was inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee.”

Ford’s opening epigraphs, Author’s Note, and closing Acknowledgments are essential reading. Opening with quotes from Charles Dickens and Henry David Thoreau, and the philosophical idea of karma, he sets the scene for the story of a family in which earlier generations pass down their experienced trauma to succeeding generations, based on the psychological theory of epigenetics. When Dorothy, the sixth generation and a former poet laureate, begins to see clues that her five-year-daughter Annabel may have inherited the problems that have plagued her own life and that of older generations, she determines to bring an end to the genetic cycle. Ford’s experiences with his son Taylor interested him in this topic and are explained in his Author’s Note along with a brief biography of the real woman who went by the name Afong Moy. His Acknowledgments bring out interesting research details that made me realize how many other elements in the novel have historic roots.

Like in any good drama, Act III, is a doozy, but it is not quite the last word. The epilogue, set in 2086, is the only section told from Annabel’s point of view. The five-year-old from her mother Dorothy’s earlier sections, now in her forties, completes this riveting novel by Jamie Ford.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance reader copy.

I was absolutely taken by this book! It is a truly unique concept spanning generations. All strong female leads based on a real historical person, Alfong Moy. It was totally immersive, lyrical and profound.

This is an interesting premise about the idea of epigenetics, the idea that trauma is passed down through DNA. Afong Moy was the first Chinese woman to set foot in the US. While this story is fiction, it looks at what 6 females in her lineage experience and the possible generational trauma that has an impact on their lives. It’s told in alternating POVs from 1834 to 2045 and weaves their stories together really beautifully.

I liked the idea and reading their stories but it was actually quiet depressing and frustrating at times. I’m not sold on the idea of trauma being passed down by DNA but found that to be the idea that drew me into the book. However, it was a little out there and the ending was a stretch and not explained well.

If you enjoy sweeping generational stories that are character driven you may enjoy this one. I think people who enjoy stories like Pachinko will like this one but be aware of the science/psychological aspect.

Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the arc for an honest review.

In this multigenerational novel, Mr Ford explores epigenetics , the idea that traumas can be passed through the generations like personality traits. The daughters descending from from Afong Moy, who was the first Chinese woman in America, are traced in this story, although the main character is Dorothy in 2045 who is looking to stop the progression of depression she doesn’t want her daughter to live with. I found the characters interesting and love how the story unfolds.

Thank you Atria Books for my ARC!

Pub date 8/2/22
Genre: family saga, interconnected stories
In one sentence: Dorothy Moy uses an experimental technique to connect with the past generations of women in her family, including Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman in America.

This book bewildered me - but in a good way! Author Jamie Ford throws the reader in head-first with little context, and it took me a while to get into the individual stories and see the connections. But I loved the last 20%, and I'm still thinking about this book a week after reading it.

Jamie Ford transports readers across continents and centuries with an epic saga of the descendants of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to step foot in America. With the artful and masterful skill readers of Jamie Ford have come to love and appreciate each of the ‘many daughters” shares her own life story, how she bears inherited trauma and its effects on family and social relationships. The narrative encompasses social and economical mores, racially acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, and historical events impacting the daughters’ lives spanning the 19th-21st centuries. Generationally inherited trauma becomes very real when main character Dorothy Moy’s 5-year-old daughter, Annabel begins to recall details from ancestors’ lives. Now Dorothy fears Annabel also has inherited trauma, so hoping to find a way to cure her daughter, seeks an unproven treatment for herself from Dr. Shedhorn. The doctor’s analogy of inherited trauma being like a perennial plant: “A part of us comes back each new season, carrying a bit of the previous floret,” helps clarify transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. A novel to enlighten and heighten readers’ understanding of being different, feeling unworthy, and “otherness.”

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is in my top favorite books so I leapt at the reading Ford’s new book, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. Following Afong Moy, a real person and the first Chinese woman in the United States and her fictional relatives over the course of centuries, Ford tackles generational trauma, soulmates and what binds us.

What I liked: The concept that generational trauma affects a person’s DNA and future generations was interesting. And that we are drawn to people based on our souls recognizing them.

Ford is a good storyteller. I like how he weaves real events into fiction. Afong’s story is tragic and hers and her ancestors show how women and minorities were/are treated as other and property.

What didn’t work for me: I found the storyline a bit confusing and too sci-fi for me. Towards the end, I wasn’t sure if what was happening was real or a dream.

Who should read it: You have your family tree mapped out and like historical fiction with a dash of sci-fi.

I love Jamie Ford’s writing style, so I was very excited to read his latest. I had to mull over this one for a bit to organize my thoughts.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy has an interesting premise. It explores the idea of generational trauma as a genetic inherited trait. If that sounds crazy, there actually is some science behind this idea.

Dorothy, a woman living in the 2040’s, suffers from some mental health issues. The book flashes back in chapters to some of her female ancestors and their trauma.

Overall, this book didn’t have much momentum. I wasn’t satisfied with the resolution and didn’t like the message that I felt it intimated. However, I did enjoy the writing.

Thank you @netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very interesting book. I love the different years and different perspectives. The generational stories and the connections are touching. Each having their own victories and struggles. Highly recommend.

Beautifully-written. Told by different POVs by chapters, cumulative generational trauma is the thread linking each woman together. Don’t skip the author’s forward as he describes his curiosity of epigenetics that motivated him to research and write this book. Fascinating! I found the women’s stories compelling and sad but with a strength behind each woman that was kind of breathtaking. Heartfelt thanks to Atria for the advanced copy.

The premise of the book is interesting: we inherit not only physical traits (eye color etc.) but past trauma too.
I finished the novel, and it was a bit of chore; the style is beautiful and, for this reason, I kept reading it but the story is a little too depressing. I was happy when I finished it and I loved the ends so hopeful.
Final thought: I would read it again? No, as I said it is beautifully written but I see this story more as science fiction and it is not my favorite genre.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, but unfortunately the writing fell flat and I thought there were too many perspectives.

Jamie Ford's new novel, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, is extraordinary - and unique. I want to make sure the right readers find this genre-busting novel.

Ford's most famous novel, On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, is straight historical fiction. Afong Moy is not. The story perfectly blends a multigenerational family saga, melded with futuristic science and a dash of added dystopia. Readers need to expect and enjoy a bit of speculative and futuristic elements.

Ford uses fiction to paint a vivid example of how inherited trauma may manifest. I've read about epigenetics but found the concept hard to conceptualize (and I'm a scientist), so I appreciated reading the author's take on the phenomenon. I'll be reflecting on Ford's narrative for a long time - and what is a better complement to a book than this?

I recommend reading the acknowledgment section of the book before you begin. In this case, understanding more of the author's motivations and background may help the reader get into the book. There are many characters and alternating timelines, so you may want to keep a note card as a bookmark to remind you of who's who. I read an ebook version and had to search character names a few times.
Finally, this is an excellent book club pick and a book you may find yourself rereading.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced ebook version in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to get this and have heard such great things, but when I got to chapters on climate change weather and pandemic stuff, it was just too much for my nervous heart. I know others will love it but I can’t do this one and still sleep peacefully.

When I read this book I was taken on a journey across continents and generations. Ford wove parallels of common interests or preferences among the Moy women but also shared emotions, reactions, and a trauma that cut deeper into the following generations. The women's stories were so powerful and harrowing. For instance, Afong Moy was wed off to an already deceased man and their family sold her to an American. She moved to America and was the first Chinese woman in the US where she was paraded around on stages around the country like a circus act. Each POV was like a window into a Chinese experience at that snapshot of history. It was super interesting and I learned a lot but what shone through was the characters and their heart-wrenching stories. Sometimes I couldn't tell where things were going or how a character was connected and then it all came together and I was left in tears.

This book is going to get a special place on my shelf. It hit a nerve within me. Sometimes I feel like I feel more than others. I get so many weird deja vu moments that I can't explain. I often reflect on my past and on the fragility of our time on earth.. I know, deep and exhausting. Ford dives into the concept of epigenetic inheritance, the concept that we can inherit trauma and joy from past generations in our DNA. It is not an obscure concept in some other cultures but recent research has supported the theory. Hmmmm... no wonder I loved this book.

Thank you Atria books and Jamie Ford for the opportunity to read an advanced copy for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Dorothy Moy is a poet laureate. Her poetry flows out of her "episodes," which her husband is sure are mental health deficiencies. But when her daughter starts to have the same experiences, Dorothy seeks treatment and begins to meet some of her ancestors--fierce women, all. Their experiences, adventures, joys, traumas, and lives all culminate in Dorothy and her daughter. And all along this journey, someone is looking for Dorothy...but why?

This was a journey full of metaphors, and what-ifs, and could-bes, and longing. Of generational trauma and deja vu. So much of it is so very real, and the rest very well could be. How much are we affected by the legacy and experiences of our ancestors, either through DNA or through generational nurture? What happens when trauma informs our identity, either consciously or unconsciously? And what forms can healing and resolution take? I found myself pondering themes along these lines both during the story and long after I was done reading. I can see how it would be triggering in a good way for some, and in a bad way for others, so approach with caution oh ye sensitive reader. The universality of the themes is a testament to the excellence of the storytelling.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley and the publisher. All views expressed are my honest opinion.