The many daughters of Afong Moy. This book covers 7 generations of the Moy family, and 250 years. It goes into the past and into the future. The women experience something known as inherited trauma, the idea that trauma that your ancestors experienced can be inherited, and can plague the next generations. The family has experienced a lot of trauma, coming from China to the US and facing many challenges and prejudice. The intergenerational relationships are difficult. There is a lot of moving from one timeline to another, so not easy to follow, but worth reading. #themanydaughtersofafongmoy #jamieford #readwithjenna #booklover #reader #bookblog #lovetoread #bookrecommendations #bookreview #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #netgalley

This unique book was described by one of my friends as “speculative historical fiction” which I think is a pretty decent description. The chapters jump around between various characters, all descended from Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman in America. And it’s part historical fiction, in that most of them are set in the past, while also speculative fiction in that not only are the parts about Dorothy set in the future, but also in that Dorothy is undertaking a cutting edge form of therapy based on the idea of epigenetics - that is, the notion that trauma can actually be inherited and affect future generations.

While the therapy may be fictional, epigenetics, further explored in author’s notes both before and after the book, is real and super-fascinating. And the characters all really came to life even when they just appeared for a few chapters. I will say though that occasionally I had a little trouble figuring out the timeline and how they all connected - kind of would have appreciated a family tree though I understand why there wasn’t one. But it was an interesting and excellently written book, and I can see why Read With Jenna chose it as there definitely is a lot to talk about with this one.

The premise of this book caught my attention. It sounded very interesting.
The book has several timelines in it. There are a lot of characters in it which did make it a bit confusing but we do see how they are all connected together.
There are many topics covered over a long period of time, sorrows,joys a little about each woman in different time periods.
The characters will stay with you for awhile.

Pub Date: 02 Aug 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

The premise of this book immediately caught my attention- such a unique storyline and I love family stories told over multiple generations. I was especially excited when I realized that not only were we introduced to characters who lived in the past, but some who lived in the future.

I did find it a little tricky to keep track of the storylines as there were a lot of characters but I loved their interconnectedness. I heard this book may become a TV series?! Definitely one I’ll be checking out!

Thank you to Atria Books for my gifted copies to read and review.

i really tried reading this one, but i just could not get into it, the going back and forth, along with words that i couldnt pronounce did not help at all . I really wanted to read it based on the reviews i had read but this book was just not for me.

I was curious about this book and the story. Several timelines. Several daughters. Each story tragic in its own way. My heart was broken for Afong. The whole concept of feet binding in Chinese society just gets to me and what she had to go through. Throughout the story, I wondered about each of the women, each of the daughters and their relationships. I liked how the author interlaced the concept of "I will always look for you" into the different generations. I was curious as to what the authors' message was on epigenetics through this story and I didn't come away with anything positive. Towards the end, without giving it away, I wasn't sure what the author was trying to say. I wasn't sure what the message of epigenetics was. As a concept, I applaud the author on taking on this amazing topic.

This is by far the best book I’ve read this year. The way they weaved the different generations was brilliant as I was trying to figure out where the different daughters fit into the timeline. I found the idea of your irrational fears and anxieties being an inherited trait fascinating!

This novel is an amazing and enjoyable adventure through time. In The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford, we meet seven very different ladies and learn how each lady’s experience impacted all the other ladies. Throughout the book we meet Dorothy, 2045 poet laureate; Fay, a nurse in 1942; Zoe, a 1927 student; Lai, a girl in 1892 San Francisco; Greta a 2014 tech executive; Annabel, a daughter in 2086 and Afong, the first Chinese woman to come to America in 1834 . Each of these ladies is confronted with situations and their individual reactions. The novel explores how each one’s decision or lack of a decision and each one’s circumstances of their own making or out of their control flows down through many decades to have a profound effect on the others. Dorothy suffers with depression and when she notices that her daughter is showing signs of the same disability, she seeks out ways to cure her depression and help her daughter. To that end she undergoes experimental treatment which helps her to deal with painful recollections and century old trauma. Through this treatment, Dorothy learns that she has been loved throughout all the time and that she is deserving of being loved and giving love. A very different novel, but one that shows the power of love and the means one is willing to go to achieve peace for oneself and one’s love ones. A totally great read.

I was expecting a lot from this book. I’ve read Jamie Ford before and loved his stories. And this was also the Read with Jenna’s book club book. But I didn’t like it. At all. It was difficult to follow because of the number of characters. It was depressing. It was far-fetched. I don’t actually have anything good to say about the entire story, except that I couldn’t wait for it to end. The premise sounded so intriguing, but it just fell flat for me.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Net Galley.

One of the hallmarks of becoming a mature reader is to pick up a book based on a premise that you don't necessarily agree with and walk into it with an open mind. We all have different life experiences, and those are reflected by the range of fictional stories on the market. However, the reality of the publishing industry is that some ideas and some life experiences are more likely to be published than others. That's part of the reason I started this blog-- themes and ideas attractive to people who live in major coastal cities get published at a much higher rate because that's where the decision makers live. That leaves many of us "Middle Americans" to feel left out. Our cities and areas are often depicted by authors who have spent much of their life in New York City, causing an inauthentic representation of our culture. Midwesterners and Southerners alike are usually portrayed as bumpkins, unintelligent, or hateful. Our cities are portrayed as boring, uninteresting, or sleepy

. Instead, life in a small, midwestern city is often a lot like a major city, but without the traffic. As someone who moved from one of the largest American cities (Washington, D.C.) to one of the largest cities in the world (Tokyo), I long for the days where I can enjoy the quiet urbanity of Oklahoma City.

Why is this important? One of the ideas that seems to be buzzing around the Twittersphere these days is that of generational trauma. I understand the thought behind it, I've read the arguments for and against it, and I can empathize for people who feel very affected by it. However, I can't personally jump on board with the idea. The idea that the decisions mad

e by your ancestors manifest themselves into your DNA to cause later mental health issues just does not sit well with me. If I really want to examine why, I'd have to point to my own home. Oklahomans historically have a lot of hardships. It has never been an easy place to live. We have droughts, tornadoes, and extreme heat and cold. We were the site of one of the largest domestic terror attacks in U.S. history. Many people never pass through Oklahoma, so they rely on stereotypes that are just plain silly. I ran a national convention in college, and the number one question we had to field from other universities, especially those in California and on the East Coast, was whether there were cars and houses. They literally thought we lived in teepees and rode horses. Yikes.

All of this is to say that I'm predisposed to not believe in generational trauma. If there is anything passed down in an Okie's genes, it's probably generational fortitude-- the belief that you accept your misfortune, brush it aside, and build your life over again. Despite this predisposition, however, I walked into The Many Daughters of Afong Hoy by Jamie Ford with an open mind. It was a beautiful book.

This book follows the descendants of Afong, who was born in 1836. Afong was pledged to be married, but her fiance died shortly before the wedding. Instead of allowing her to marry her true love, Afong's family gave her over to her late fiance's family, who married her to the dead fiance and blamed her as the cause of his misfortune. Outcasted from the start, the family eventually shipped her to America where she became a sort of slave. Her handler, Mr. Hannington, treated her as a sideshow. He sold tickets for people to come to see a Chinese woman. Afong's life in America is full of misery, and it only gets worse when her translator begins to rape her.

The next person in Afong's family line is Lai King, who witnesses the arrival of the Black Death to her city in 1892. After watching her neighbors die in droves, Lai King's father (along with other people in the Chinese community) volunteer (or rather are "voluntold") to act as guinea pigs for a vaccine to prevent the plague. Lai King's parents trick her into getting on a ship to China, only to find out that they weren't coming with her. She watches their city burn down as the ship pulls away. By the end of her story, the plague has reeked even more death and destruction on her life.

Next up is Zoe, a girl who attends a progressive boarding school in England in 1927. Zoe has a crush on one of her female teachers. When the school bully finds out, he destroys both Zoe and her teacher's lives in their own way.

We then meet Faye, who works as a battlefield nurse in 1942. After a pilot dies in her arms, she finds a picture of herself in his pocket with the words, "Find me" written on it. She becomes obsessed with this pilot and cannot shake the feeling that she is in love with him. However, no amount of wishing will bring this stranger (who doesn't feel like a stranger) back to life.

Then, we meet Greta, a programmer for a new dating app in 2014. Her company is on the brink of success and her parents set her up with a wonderful man whom she instantly connects with. Then, her company's silent investor steps in and destroys everything.

Finally, we meet Dorothy, Greta's daughter. Dorothy lives in the year 2045 and has struggled with mental illness her entire life. As her marriage begins to dissolve, she decides
to begin an experimental treatment called epigenetics. During her sessions, she relives the generational trauma of all of her ancestors. As the treatments threaten her existence in the real world, she pushes through, hoping to break the cycle and make her life better so she can care for her own daughter, Annabelle.

This was a beautifully written book that wove together a diverse set of stories from one family line. Each character was both completely unique and a reflection of the generations before. Every time the author jumped from one story to the next, you felt like you got the taste of something new. However, each story also referenced the lives of the other women. While I absolutely loved each character, I have one major criticism of the book-- a lack of closure. After falling in love with the different characters, I wanted to see how their stories ended in real life. Instead, the author failed to color in the ending of each story as it happened, instead relying on the echoes that Dorothy experienced at the end of the book that gave each character an "alternative ending." Even though I realize this was an intentional act, probably to stress the fact that you can heal from generational trauma, I only gave the book 3/5 stars. I had anticipated a 5/5 star rating until the end.

Despite my gripes, I would absolutely recommend this book to friends. It's a perfect book club book. In fact, I think I'm going to suggest it to each of my three book clubs as our next read. The subject of generational trauma is sure to produce interesting conversation and debate, and I can't wait to hear other readers' thoughts.

Unfortunately, I just did not get this book. There seems to be too many characters, too many stories, and to be honest, too many names, both Chinese and anglicized versions of the same, to keep up with. I also felt that the premise of epigenetic‘s was not explained well enough either and was not seen, at least to me, throughout the book. At the end a lot of time is spent going through each character with a short summary of their life as it happened in the brain of the modern day character. This did not seem to clear things up for me much at all and proved to be some thing that just made the book even longer. I have enjoyed other books by Jamie Ford, but this is not one I would recommend to others. I gave it three stars because there were some of the character’s stories that I did get into and understood and that kept me engaged, but the book as a whole did not. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

I adored the multi-generational story of Afong Moy so very much. It was emotional, heart-wrenching and gorgeously written. It was so charming and I did not want this book to end.

It was one of my favorite reads of the year so far.

Well done. All the praise.

Jamie Ford’s latest book, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, was a roller coaster ride, dipping and looping through seven generations of women. Ford is a master of craft, but for me, this book was a bit too ambitious. Each of the women’s stories was a history lesson, and I loved each of their stories for different reasons. I would have been content to read each as its own short story. The characters were interesting, the history was informative and the writing superb. But the novel jumped around through six different points of view over a few centuries and in different countries. I got dizzy trying to keep track of each separate story, and then try to place them into one family’s narrative.

I really enjoyed learning about the idea of epigenetics. Since I understand inherited trauma from my experiences with children of Holocaust survivors, the science wasn’t such a stretch for me. I enjoyed the elements of speculative fiction that were woven throughout the historical fiction, my favorite genre.

This would be a terrific book to discuss with a book club. I will look forward to reading Ford’s future novels.

My thanks to NetGalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in any way.

I absolutely loved Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet, so when I saw Jamie Ford had a new book coming out, it immediately went on my “Want To Read” list. While The Many Daughters of Afong May is quite different, I loved it too!

Ford profiles pieces of the lives of seven different women in the same family, over the course of over 200 years. He explores the idea of generational or inherited trauma and epigenetics. But he does this without a lot of scientific explanations so it’s quite accessible. Much of the action takes place in Seattle, but other parts of the story take place in China, where the family originates, along with Baltimore and England. Afong May is a fictionalized version of a real person, who supposedly was the first Chinese woman to come to the US. All the women in this book are traumatized in different ways, often via misogyny, and other societal “norms” including anti-homosexuality and racism.

Be advised - this book jumps around a lot in time and place, but Ford makes it very clear where/when you are, so it’s not confusing. That being said, if that sort of thing bothers you, then you might want to give this one a miss. At first I found it a bit frustrating because I wanted to know more about each woman! But I settled down for the ride and I found I just couldn’t put it down. I bounced between the audiobook (read by a full cast!) and the ebook, so “not putting it down” was pretty easy. I loved the combination of historical fiction and speculative fiction!

Don’t miss the Author’s Notes, both at the beginning and end of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. I listened to parts of the audiobook, courtesy of my public library. All opinions are my own.

Highly recommend this one! This was my first book to read by this author but definitely won't be my last. The characters will stay with you long after you finish the book and you will find yourself wishing the story would never end.

This is as a most interesting and compelling story, but sad. The concept of epigenetics is fascinating and the author captured this in her story.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.5 stars.

I love Jamie Ford's writing style. It has an interesting combination of comforting and unsettling qualities and is brilliantly atmospheric. His character work is wonderful and I just love the way his stories come to life. Though I have only read historical fiction from him in the past, this novel mixes history with the future and science with a bit of magical realism. It's an interesting framework for a story and incredibly creative.

The women created in the story are all very distinct and strong, despite their traumas. Dorothy appeared to be the weakest of the "daughters", which makes sense as you read the story and understand the theory behind the work. However, this did make her a little more unlikable in my eyes, so may be a reader turn off for her character. Regardless, all of the characters (and multiple POVs) are magnificently crafted and very well researched for their individual time periods. This approach does mean that there are jumps between both time and character that could be confusing for some readers, but I really enjoyed reading about the different women.

I found the research behind the primary basis for the story very interesting and am glad that the author decided to introduce the book with an author's note, as I think this sets up readers for a greater understanding of the narrative (even though it is actually explained over the course of the plot). Those who like to go into a book knowing nothing would be wise to skip this introduction as it could be considered by some to be a bit of a spoiler.

This novel is full of generational sadness and historical misogyny, pulling the reader through multiple emotional journeys. The way these are all interwoven and somewhat influence one another is masterfully done and I loved the way everything came together.

This is a beautiful epic story with an interesting magical realism/sci-fi twist that I found both entertaining and contemplative. There is a lot to unpack in this story and a lot to consider once the tale is finished. A great thought piece and a lovely novel.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Kindle eBook & Physical Book
Date Published: 8/2/22
Author: Jamie Ford
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 384
GR: 4.00

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Atria Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: As Washington’s former poet laureate, 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. 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: I did not like historical fiction when I started my journey, slowly I am migrating towards it and this was an excellent stepping stone! The story is narrated from the POV of 7 women, from their own perspectives. The story is told in alternating timelines that is not placed in any chronological order. This was a very interesting read, but incredibly sad. This book had a little of everything, philosophical, mystery, some magic, and was extremely heartwarming. The characters were well flushed out in the story, well developed, multiple generations covered, mysterious, and very intriguing. The author’s writing style was multifaceted complex, thought provoking, historical, cultural, and kept me engaged. This was a powerful novel that was Read with Jeanna’s Book in August. Afong Moy was based on a true character, which gave the book an interesting flare. The ending does an amazing job of tying everything together is a feel good ending. I would highly recommend picking up this novel today!!

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, has a new book out: The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. The novel combines historical/contemporary/futuristic fiction and magical realism in a multi-generational exploration of inherited trauma/epigenetics.

Although there are several women portrayed in the novel, two are the bookends to the storyline. The first is Afong Moy (based on a true historical figure.) She is the first Chinese woman to come to the U.S. – against her will. She was treated as a type of circus freak, with audiences particularly agog because of her tiny bound feet. She was essentially enslaved and forced to perform. Her story ends in tragedy. Her memories become embedded in the psyches of her descendants.

Each of these descendants has an interesting story of her own. Each lives their own particular tragedy. The stories are beautiful and a bit painful to read.

The traumatic memories are not only inherited but are cumulative. By the time we reach Dorothy Moy’s story, it is the year 2045. Dorothy lives in Seattle, a city rattled by climate change. She is a renowned poet, or was, until she was forced to resign because of her dissociative disorder. She’s in a bad relationship, unemployed, and, worst of all, she fears her five-year-old daughter is sliding down the same path. She’s ready for something drastic. Her therapist recommends an experimental treatment, a genetic therapy that will help her ferret out the inherited memories embedded in her brain. (There is actually scientific research being done in this area.)

Dorothy has to get worse before she gets better. She experiences things that are shown happening in the lives of her ancestors in other chapters. The intertwining of the stories is deftly done.

There is also a man, the soul-mate of Afong Moy, who weaves in and out of all the women’s lives, trying to reconnect, but always just missing.

There is a lot going on in the novel and it would probably bear reading twice to fully appreciate all the nuance. But even if you can’t read it twice, it’s well worth reading once!

Dorothy Moy, a poet, struggles with some mental healthy issues. She finds an experimental treatment designed to help her find and understand inherited trauma in her past. She is concerned for her daughter Annabel. In her treatments, she finds her ancestors: Afong Moy (a historical figure who was the first Chinese woman to come to America); Lai King Moy, a young girl quarantined during the 1918 pandemic; Faye Moy, a nurse who served with the Flying Tigers in China; Zoe Moy, a student in London; Greta Moy, a tech executive of Syren (which actually existed for a short time), the dating app to find your perfect mate. This story connects all these women through time travel/ a new (futuristic) treatment to help you "remember" your ancestor's memories that Dororthy goes through. I enjoyed the women's stories and the history. It did get a bit far-fetched for me, so take that into account when starting this book. My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Simon & Schuster for an advanced e-book.