I have wanted to read a Jamie Ford book for awhile, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I saw this one on Net Galley and was thrilled to have my request to read an early copy approved. Reading reviews makes me think that this is a departure from his other books. The story centers on the concept of epigenetics or how your ancestors’ experiences can affect your life. Dorothy lives in the future. She grapples with emotional and mental issues that may be caused by the experiences of six women who came before her. We get to know the stories of all seven women as well as Dorothy’s daughter. All of these women lived fascinating lives going from the 1800s to the future. This book demands close reading as it can get confusing, but it is so worth the extra effort. Great characters and stories as well as a bit of magic make this a great read.

I was provided a free advanced copy of this book from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
This was a fascinating, epic book. It takes us to the past, present, and future as we learn about Afong Moy, five of her descendants, and the inherited trauma they suffer through.
In the future, Dorothy is struggling in an abusive relationship, while trying to deal with her own mental health issues and trying her best to care for her daughter. When her therapist recommends a new experimental treatment focused on epigenetics (the inheritance of emotional traumas across generations) she decides to take a chance on it. Through this treatment she learns about the struggles her ancestors suffered through and passed on, starting with Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman in America. Will she be able to overcome these traumas and make changes for herself and her daughter?
As a reader we are in the minds of each of these women throughout the story, but I felt like their stories and personalities were different enough that I didn't struggle with remembering which was which. I liked the little bits of true history, studies, and possible future events thrown in throughout the story. It made it feel real to me. Although I can't say much about what happened, I really enjoyed this story. I think it will stick with me for a while.
I also think this would be a great one for a book club as there could be a lot of discussion about everything that happens!
This one is currently set to be published 2 August, so add it to your TBR and be on the lookout!
#NetGalley #TheManyDaughtersOfAfongMoy

Having read and enjoyed two previous novels by Jamie Ford, I was excited to receive an advance copy of his newest novel, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. It’s very different from his previous books and it’s not easy to write a review.

Told in three acts with a lot of déjà vu moments, there is so much going on. Dorothy is the character who proves to be the connecting thread among all of the other six women whose stories are told here. I struggled at the beginning to figure out how everything was related. One good thing about reading this on my Kindle is that I could search for words or names to help me keep everything straight. Here are some of the common denominators that I noticed appearing and reappearing throughout the tale:

- The color green: Emerald green tie; a green frock; green footie pajamas; Green Lake; Louis Green Analytics; sitting on a thick branch in a green dress; green, cushioned bench;
- Hair: Thick dark hair that curled in front; the curls of his long dark hair; curls of dark hair; long dark hair.
- The songs: “I’ll Never Smile Again,” “Splendid Isolation,” “Maybe You’ll be There,” “The Way You Look Tonight”
- Ships: Afong on a steamship to America; Faye on an ocean liner to Rangoon; Lai King on an ocean liner to Canton; Dorothy and Annabel on an old ferry
- "If I leave, I will come back for you," Yao Han said.
"FIND ME" “Come back.” “I’ve finally found you.” "You know, you look somewhat familiar. Have we met before?" “Come back to me. I am back.” “Welcome back; I thought I lost you.” “Don’t worry about it. I’ll find you.” “You look awfully familiar. Have we met?”

Of all the chapters, I found the chapter “Echoes” to be the most fascinating. In it Dorothy personally experiences the trauma of her antecedents’ lives and tweaks them.

“You know, the best thing anyone can ever hope for in life is a good third act. And I’ve had a great third act.”

Afong Moy was an actual historical character. Nevertheless, you have to suspend disbelief at times. The writing is descriptive and detailed. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is a unique story with a narrative that goes back and forth among the characters. Each character is well presented and they are all clearly different from each other. I found it to be a fascinating read.

Lost. Wait. Find.

These are the words that continued to echo through my brain as I read this book slowly, savoring every sentence, every chapter, every character.

This is Jamie Ford’s masterpiece, in my opinion. While I have loved every novel he has written, this is the one that he has been searching for since he first began with Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. A story of generational trauma that asks the question: Can we make it right, can we change our history and therefore change our future?

This story travels back and forth, forwards and backwards, finding and refinding the descendants of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to arrive in America back in 1836. Yes, Afong was real, but her future generations were not, yet author Jamie Ford brings them alive. Each daughter revisits their ancestor’s pain, the loss of their one true love, the manipulation by others who want to ‘own’ each woman, the pain of being an immigrant, a refugee, a mother, a child. As we watch history march forwards and backwards, we watch each woman become Lost, Wait, Find.

And I double-dog dare you to put this book down after finishing the very first chapter; I picked my jaw up off the floor and could not stop. This book spoke to every cell in my heart, to the way I see the world, both our past and our future, to the power of literature in the very best way. This book will reign as one of my top books of 2022.

“There was more. That her lifetime of restless wandering hadn’t been in vain. That her mistakes, her heartaches, her regrets, all led her here, to the place where he could find her.”

Jamie Ford has written a unique absorbing novel.Told through the voices of the women their pain their heartache.The flow of the novel is unusual but kept me involved.#netgalley #atriabooks.

Finally finished and it felt like a major accomplishment. To make any part of this story real you have to buy into transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and if you are or become a believer this is still going to be a difficult puzzle. Each segment was interesting but some of the puzzle pieces had such ragged edges that it was hard to make them fit. Then there was the point of it all, which could have been told in a less confusing way. Building on the tenet that “existence is fluid and relational” a straight line would have been helpful. As I posted when I was more than halfway though I struggled with this book.

Jamie Ford is a supremely skilled author. I am rounding up for his ability to find the words and ideas to bring this subject of epigenetics and another discussion of mental illness forward. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy.

Thank you to netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
3.5 stars rounded to 4 on Goodreads. This was such a unique concept for a book. I loved how the stories were woven together and how generations of women are effected by the choices of the generation before. However, we can choose to change our own choices.
I found myself a bit lost and confused for most of the book as to the timeline of the generations and was constantly having to flip around. A simple family tree or list of generations at the beginning would have been very helpful. I found I didn’t connect to Dorothy as much as I wanted. I wish I had more of a background with her, Annabel and Louis so that I could more easily understand the choices she was making. Also, the treatment Dorothy was receiving was a bit confusing and I would have loved a more clear explanation of what it was to do.
All of that to say that the ending of this book was well worth the wait and Ford wonderfully tied everything together in a very satisfying conclusion!

Ford's Many Daughters captured my immediate attention and held my interest but I had a great deal of difficulty following the timeline and thematic threads that crossed the decades. I feel comfortable reporting my confusion and saying that having loved Bitter & Sweet, I would read/buy/recommend anything that Jamie Ford writes. This ambitious effort was not up to expectations. Thanks for the chance to read an ARC.

This book by Jamie Ford is simply extraordinary. I LIVED this book, through all of the fantastic characters, transporting me from the 1830’s all the way to more than 20 years in the future, from China to Seattle and points in between. These women, mothers and daughters, allowed me to accompany them on their journeys of love, heartache, hope and despair. I wept with them and for them, I felt the first stirrings of love with them; I traveled with them on ships and trains, I traipsed through the sodden and muddy streets with them, I searched with them for peace and healing; I am grateful that they let me share their world. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy transcends genres; it is historical fiction, contemporary fiction, woman’s fiction; it contains magic and science and psychology, and it is woven together beautifully and seamlessly. It is a unique, breathtaking, wondrous story about mothers and daughters, and how the lives and experiences of our ancestors are intertwined with our own, coloring all aspects of our lives. I am grateful to Jamie Ford for gifting readers this glorious work of art.

I really enjoyed this, but the timeline was totally out of wack. I wrote down character names and dates to keep them all straight, and I swear at one point Greta refers to Zoe as her grandmother, and refers to Lai King as her mother? The dates just do not make sense.

Other than that, the jumping around was a little much and the ending was a little too out there for my cup of tea (so the love interest is also one person, as Dorothy is? Except changing genders? And appearance?). I'm lost!

Jamie Ford has chosen a really inventive and interesting premise for this novel. I found each woman's story to be engaging and I was intrigued by the idea and how the novel would tie each story together. Although I appreciated the creativity of the story, I also found it distracting to repeatedly go from one perspective (and time period) to another. This technique which can be so effective, can also be distracting with so many points of view and generations, so for me it detracted from my focus and appreciation of the book. The story didn't particularly resonate or greatly move me (probably because I couldn't buy into the idea of trauma being passed on) but I appreciate this novel for it's creativity and effective writing.

I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.

Listened to the audiobook.

One of the best books I've read in a long while.

Ford is an American author whose debut novel "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" became a bestseller. This new book, his fourth novel, was inspired by the study of epigenetics or the idea that we can inherit trauma which has been shown to occur in mice. The book features Dorothy, who in the year 2045 is struggling with depression and memories that are not her own. She seeks treatment and relives portions of the lives of many of her females ancestors. Among the stories is that of Afong Moy, who was a real person and the first Chinese woman in the USA. Among the others are a teen escaping the San Francisco plague epidemic of the early 1900's and a nurse in China during WWII. This is a fascinating story, albeit confusing at times, that spans various genres, from historical fiction, to science fiction. It is a wonderful recommendation for readers as long as they are okay with multiple points of view and timelines. I really enjoyed it.

Mystical, moody, and mesmerizing, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is not to be missed. A sweeping family drama that spans centuries, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy follows descendants of real life Afong Moy (the first Chinese woman to set foot in America), as they carry with them more than her DNA. The plot relies on epigenetics-the study of"heritable" traits we get from our ancestors that includes much more than eye and hair color. Years, decades, and centuries later, Afong Moy's "daughters" relive past traumas experienced by previous generations-including those of Afong, who was paraded around the US like a circus animal to showcase her bound feet. In 2045 Afong's descendant Dorothy is haunted by these and other disturbing memories that are not her own. Dorothy is driven to find what is causing these flashbacks when she fears the anxiety and depression Dorothy has dealt with all her life has been passed on to her own daughter. The bouncing around of characters and timelines makes keep track of "who's who" among Afong's seven "daughters" a near impossibility, but the story is so deeply moving and intense you don't mind (although a "family tree" sure would help). But the thread that ties Afong to these women is not just trauma-it is love. In every one of Dorothy's rotating memories someone is desperately trying to find her, with their identity just out of Dorothy's grasp. Through wars, plagues, separation, and death, love is a constant. This gives The Many Daughters of Afong Moy an inspiring and uplifting feel, even amidst devastating tragedy. The conclusion of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is both confounding and comforting, implausible and believable. It is a fantastical ending to a fantastic story.

Jamie Ford’s characters are created in the author’s heart in all his novels. The result is one great read after another. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is a slight departure from previous works, centered in the not to distant future with narrative from women of generations past. The unusual format follows the main character, Dorothy, as she seeks an unconventional, futuristic treatment for her depression. Most impressive is the fluency Ford demonstrates, connecting characters and time periods. Like previous novels, Ford illuminates the Asian community of Seattle with respect and insight. A new Jamie Ford novel is always eagerly awaited and never fails to delight. Highly recommended.

I have to admit this is a tough review to write because this was a rather unusual book in my opinion. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Jamie Ford's previous works so when I saw this new book available, I simply picked it up because of the author and not the description. So while I found the idea of epigenetics, the passing of trauma through generations, interesting I had trouble reconciling it with the story I read. Ford takes the individual stories of seven generations and traces their individual traumas to how it impacts their descendent, Dorothy. I found myself enjoying each individual story but then lost it with how the stories ultimately affected Dorothy and then her daughter in a futuristic medical treatment. Ultimately, I recommend reading the description of this one before reading. If the description sounds like something you'd like go for it, but if you're looking for something like his previous pieces of historical fiction then perhaps reconsider.

Trauma, and family history can often times come hand in hand. And this unique novel takes us on a journey spanning over a century, and sharing each generation’s struggles, and healing process turns out to be both an intense journey as well as a lesson learned. Beautifully written, I absolutely recommend.

I couldn't put this one down, and after I finished it, it stayed with me.

The text is a story of multiple generations of women in the Moy family and how their traumas were passed down to Dorothy, who finally confronts them when she sees them manifesting in her young daughter. The story's premise is that trauma can be inherited, and the intro acknowledges the science and indigenous beliefs about these ideas.

It was always clear which Moy woman I was following. There were characters I liked more than others, but I understood how each fit in the larger scheme of things.

As a Baltimore resident, I did appreciate the nods to local landmarks in the text. As a genealogy buff, I appreciated the ideas of how family history shapes who we become/

This would be a great selection for a book club.

There is no greater love than that of a mother and a child. Dorothy is a former poet laureate who struggles with mental illness. She has a 5 year old daughter who begins to remember things that happened in the lives of deceased relatives. Concerned that her daughter will also have struggles with mental illness, Dorothy searches for radical treatment. Will she be able to save her daughter?
This is a story of love, and what a parent will do to save a child. It is very poignant, heartwarming and a great example of how love can overcome almost anything.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I found it hard to follow this book and rate it 3.5 stars rounded down. The book consists of multiple women, all daughters of Afong Moy. Each chapter is about a separate woman and the chapters go back and forth in time with the various women. About halfway through the book, one character goes to an unusual doctor who is experimenting with bringing back memories of ancestors that were passed on epigenetically(term explained in the book). The time span is 1836 to 2086 and the years are shown at the head of each chapter, along with the character's name. The ending ties all the chapters/women together. If you like feel good endings, then you might like this book.
The author describes some of the discrimination and hardships that Chinese immigrants faced in the US.
One quote: "Karma is like a suitcase. You have to be unafraid to open it up and look at what's inside, to unpack the things you don't need. Karma is the climate of the past, which shapes how much leeway we have in the future."
Thanks to Atria books for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.