Somebody's Daughter
Published in 2021, Somebody's Daughter is Ashley C. Ford's debut memoir about coming of age in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with her father incarcerated for much of her childhood and her mother raising her in a household marked by love and sudden violence. Ford writes about a girl who keeps her father's absence a secret, who loves and fears her mother in equal measure, and who is sexually assaulted as a teenager in a moment that reshapes her sense of herself. Across short, lyrical chapters she traces her path through high school, a first marriage, and the long process of learning who her father is when he finally comes home. The memoir is a portrait of a young Black woman finding her voice while reckoning with what it means to be loved by people who cannot always protect you. It became an instant bestseller and a Reese's Book Club pick.
What you might want to know about Somebody's Daughter
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Ashley C. Ford's memoir of growing up Black in Indiana with her father in prison and a mother whose love came with a cost.
He was incarcerated for a rape committed before her birth, a fact Ford did not learn until adolescence and writes about with care.
Both. The absent father haunts the book, but her complicated relationship with her mother is just as central.
Somebody's Daughter was written by Ashley C. Ford, published in 2021 by Flatiron Books.
Somebody's Daughter is 304 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Somebody's Daughter takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Somebody's Daughter is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
