Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir

Written by:
Ashley C. Ford
Narrated by:
Ashley C. Ford

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
55
Narrator
8
Release Date
June 2021
Duration
8 hours 44 minutes
Summary
'Ashley C. Ford brings listeners into her life in this outstanding coming-of-age story...Listeners will cheer as Ford attends college and weep as she visits her father in prison, and when he is finally released.' -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

This program is read by the author, and includes a bonus conversation between the author and Clint Smith.

One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

'Ashley Ford's prose is glass—so clear, sharp and smooth that the reader sees, in vivid focus, her complicated childhood, brilliant mind, and golden heart. The gravity and urgency of Somebody’s Daughter anchored me to my chair and slowed my heartbeat—like no book has since Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Ashley Ford is a writer for the ages, and Somebody’s Daughter will be a book of the year.' -- Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Untamed and founder of Together Rising

'This remarkable, heart-wrenching story of loss, hardship, and self-acceptance astounds.' -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Ford’s wrenchingly brilliant memoir is truly a classic in the making. The writing is so richly observed and so suffused with love and yearning that I kept forgetting to breathe while reading it.” -- John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Reviews
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Tamara H.

This was an excellent memoir, and I’m so glad it was read by the author. For something so personal, I think it helped for the author to read it and know where to emphasize and what tone to take. Ford really captures the thought processes and emotions of a child experiencing hard things. She details traumatic experiences without glossing over nor sensationalizing them. It was expertly done, and I found listening to her story to be an enriching experience.

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Anonymous

what an incredible and moving story. loved it.

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Jon E.

Wonderfully read by the author. 4.5 stars (but not an option on the app)! Moving, personal and a sometimes hard to hear view of the author’s life. It wasn’t until I was well into the book that I realized it was really about Ashley’s relationship with her dad. Loved the conversation with Clint Smith at the end too. Almost like two for one.

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Lindsey B.

Touching, compelling, well-written memoir. Perfectly narrated by the author.

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