I debated between 3 and 4 on this, finally deciding on a 4. The historical sections were entertaining, but the future section was, at times, vague and detracted from the excellent flow in the historical parts. It does come together at the end to a satisfying conclusion, and that is why I decided on a 4.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, by Jamie Ford, was one of the strangest books I can remember reading. It follows the lives of the first Chinese woman to come to America, Afong May, and her female descendants. Their lives flow from one to the other so Dorothy Moy experiences what her foremothers experience. this book is a fictional manifest of transgenerational epigenetic. It suggests our lives are shaped more by genetic predetermination than our environment.

As the later generations relive experiences of earlier generations, the reader learns the story of these seven generations of the Moy women. I was able to read an ARC on #NetGalley.

Mr. Ford's easy thought flow made this an unputdownable book. I loved it, though it was a little hard to follow as an e-book. I would recommend that it be read in book format only. I was fascinated by the theory of epigenetics and passing on past trauma to future generations. The author did a great job in using women's voices to tell his story.

I was stepping out of my "reading comfort zone" with this one, as I am not a fantasy or magical realism reader. I did not particularly enjoy or understand this, but will purchase for the library as other readers will probably enjoy this more than I did.

Jamie Ford does it again. This is a marvelous trans generational novel that winds back and forth over the years to tell heartbreaking stories of the struggles of a long line of Chinese women. I have rarely been so invested in characters. The ending left me breathless. This would be a great book club with so many layers to explore but it would also drive a discussion on epigenetics and whether or not it’s possible to carry traumas and experiences of our ancestors in our dna.

This book blew me away! I was unable to but it down. Perfect, dazzlingly, very well written. The details the author described throughout the book was so amazing. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I’m not sure how I lucked into an ARC of @jamiefordofficial’s new book, but I’m so glad I did. Ford is one of those authors that just gets better every time I read him, and that’s saying something because his debut is amongst my favorite books. Plus he totally won me over when I got to spend a day with him for a library event a few years ago😂

This sweeping narrative is about generational trauma, the power of memory, knowing where you came from, and the cycles that follow one family as they go through life. From the titular Afong Moy to Annabelle, her great, great, great, great granddaughter, we experience hope, loss, love, fear, famine, fate….the entire experience of human emotion.

Ford’s books always fictionalize a real person or event, and that makes them more haunting and more emotional to me. Add in the study of epigenetic inheritance and this is a fascinating, almost possible look at what makes us human and our own history that binds us. 5 stars. #daughtersofafongmoy #whatemilyread2022 #bookstagram #fivestarreads

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is genre-bending book that is hard to put down. Each chapter follows a different descendant of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot on American soil.

Afong’s experience was one of exploitation and eventually serious trauma. It is her trauma that seems to be inherited in future generations. We see repetition of this trauma in many of her descendants’ stories, including, Fay Moy—a nurse serving in China during the Japanese invasion in the 1940s, Zoey Moy—a student in an English boarding school for free thinkers, Lai King Moy— a girl orphaned by a plague epidemic, Greta Moy—the inventor of a new dating app during the initial IPO launch, Dorothy Moy—Washington’s former poet laureate and eventually her young daughter Annabel. Each of these women seem to suffer like their ancestor Afong.

It is Dorothy (in a future timeline 2045) who finally does something about this cycle of trauma, seeking out a doctor who specializes in epigenetics. After seeing her daughter show signs of experiencing this inherited trauma, she goes to what some might consider extreme measures to stop the pattern of suffering.

The Moy women each have such interesting lives, and Jamie Ford does an excellent job of writing characters. Despite their being so many women in this book, each feels like the main character, and it isn’t until you move on to another chapter that your are reminded of their common and perhaps inherited suffering.

This book would make an excellent book club pick. I feel like I’ve done a crappy job explaining it, but to say more is to give it away. The Many Daughters of Afong Moy comes out on August 2nd. Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and of course Jamie Ford for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Epigenetics, the transfer of the memories of trauma through generations, or inherited trauma, was something that I had never heard of before. This main topic made for a very interesting story line. The life of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to come to America, as well as the fictional lives of six of her female descendants was fascinating and beautifully written.

However, I found this book difficult to grasp because each chapter switched between the different characters and different generations. It was a little difficult to see their connections at times because the generational stories were also not in chronological order. I would become absorbed in one story and then it would stop and jump to someone else's story and may not show up again for a few chapters. The last chapter and the author's note ended up making this a worthwhile read.

If the reader can tolerate the multiple changes in sequence and become immersed in the lives of the individual characters, this will most assuredly become an enjoyable novel. I would recommend this book to readers who liked Cloud Cuckoo Land.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: August 2,2022.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is a fictional story that spans across seven generations of Chinese women. Epigenetics is the main theme which suggests that earlier generations, who have experienced trauma, fears, unusual proclivities etc, can have these issues passed on to future generations without changing their DNA.
I have read, and enjoyed, two of the author’s prior novels so I was anxious to read this one too.
I found that there was a great deal of jumping back and forth with the seven generations and at times it was quite confusing. I also realize that this is a fiction story but I did find some parts of the novel a bit far fetched. That being said, I enjoyed the story and I learned more about the actual science of Epigenetics.

I nearly quit reading this book a few times. Although the writing is strong (I loved the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) and the many characters are well-written, and the jumping between stories and time periods was a lot of work.
I’m still not completely sure what took place in the book although the idea that a person retains pieces of their ancestors, and this charts a course for their happiness was intriguing. The author’s notes at the end cleared up why he wanted to investigate of epigenetics and that was intriguing.

We follow the viewpoints of seven women. They are affected by trauma passed down from one generation to the next. Each woman can feel something, emotions from a past that she has never experienced. This leads to discord in their lives. The futuristic stories were frightening—it appears to be where we are heading with climate change. That and the characters in the future seemed to have only anxiety and there was little joy because of what was taking place in the world.

I was prepared for more of a story like Ford’s earlier books which is not to say this one is not worth the read. It was just more work that I expected.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this advanced reader’s copy.

This book begins with Dorothy, who lives in Seattle. Her five year old daughter Annabel begins to exhibit mental health issues similar to the ones Dorothy has had, so she goes on a quest to discover what else she may have inherited from past generations. We learn what previous generations went through, including Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to arrive in the United States.

The book was very interesting and kept the reader engaged as we dove into the lives of Dorothy, Afong, Zoe, and others.

My first from this author. I was drawn to the unique concept, with the connections to the best not just tied with genetics but with experiences or what one has felt. The two central storylines may have been hard for me to get acquainted with at first; it was nonlinear, a back and forth in time, but once I got used to it, it was worth my time. You just really have to have a keen eye for details. This is my first book from this author and after this I don't think it will be my last! My interest is piqued.

Full review to come!

A brilliant book that is hard to categorize, much to the author's credit. Is it historical fiction? Speculative fiction? Sci-fi or fantasy? Yes, to all of the above, and more. Beyond that, the writing is tender and clear and the story, highly engaging. Highly recommended.

This is the second book of Jamie Ford and I really enjoyed the first book so I was excited to read this one. The book has two central storylines, the primary being that of Afong Moy and her descendants, which were the best part of the book. Afong Moy was a real-life character, although we don’t know of any descendants. In 1834, she arrived in America, the first Chinese woman in the States. She then went on to travel the country as a performer in entertainment shows, eventually working for P. T. Barnum. Accounts of Afong stop in 1851, and it is uncertain where she went or what happened to her. For this book, the author has given her a line of six generations of female descendants, and each story is interesting and each personality distinctly different from the others. I enjoyed reading this account but then the descendants is where things began to get very confusing. There are multiple storylines and characters as well as timelines and the juggling of people, timeframes and storylines distracts from the story. The story of Afong was good and I enjoyed reading about her. However, the secondary storyline is that of Afong’s descendant Dorothy, who in 2045 pursues epigenetics, or inherited trauma, as a means of coping with some psychological issues. That storyline just didn’t work for me, perhaps because I don’t want to believe trauma can be passed down as a legacy to our next generations. Imagine all the pain, suffering and anguish of all our ancestors, and that heap of misery befalling someone from birth. Some of the storylines are out there and don't tie well with the rest of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC.

Such a unique concept, epigenesis, where there are genetic connections going back generations that are not just physical but perhaps to pain or fears that control your life. As I read this, I did struggle to keep up with the ever-changing story. Told out of order, the stories ping-pong back and forth between all the many generations of the Moy women from China to the United States and the trauma that they endured. Particularly confusing was when it jumped to the year 2046 in the future. I wished that I had taken notes of the various “daughters” and the years to keep better track of them and help with their connections. There is Afong who became the first Chinese woman in America, Faye who was a nurse in China, Lai King who fled the plague, Zoe a young student struggling with her sexuality, Greta a lonely tech genius who developed a dating app and Dorothy who has a young daughter Annabel. Only through the courage of the “daughter” Dorothy in the year 2046, as she struggled with depression, did she try to discover how to deal with the trauma and rewrite her history with the help of advanced technology in an effort to change her own daughter’s life journey and end the cycle of pain. As a reader, you have to pay attention as the connections pop up now and then with the other daughters. I suggest to readers to hang in there as the last half of the book makes this well worth reading. I give this a 4 out of 5.

Many thanks to #netgalley #jamieford #atriabooks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a rather difficult review to write. There were so many things I had never heard of before.

The story of seven women. Living with generational trauma. We begin with Dorothy Moy. Washington’s one-time poet laureate. When her young daughter begins showing signs of the same type of behavior that plagues Dorothy, she decides to go for some experimental treatments that are thought to mitigate inherited trauma. That one I had to look up.

In doing so she connects with past generations of her own family. And in all of the scenarios, there is a man looking for her. So a painful and traumatic past isn’t the only thing she’s searching for answers for.

Her choice to end the cycle of pain may help her find her lost love or it may cost her something.

I enjoyed the women’s stories. How different and yet similar they were. Some of these things I had never heard about before and I am very glad I now understand them.

NetGalley/August 2nd, 2022 by Atria Books

Jamie Ford's newest novel, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is well written and absolutely fascinating! I love how he wraps together history, women's stories, generational trauma, science, and psychology to create an utterly readable and addictive novel. I was entranced by each woman's story (each daughter) and just wished I could have known more about each of them.

The idea of generational trauma is not new to me, but the treatment of it and the epigenetics field as a whole was. I waited until after I read the book to do a little research on these subjects, and man - so fascinating (and also depressing)! It is great though that there is research being done about ways to lessen the impacts of the past on our present and future. But I digress.

Without spoiling the ending - I was disappointed in it and that is what dropped it from five stars to four. The fantasy element was fine, but I felt like it romanticized drugs and that is concerning to me.

I can't wait until my friends can read this book too! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced ebook copy. All opinions are my own.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
I still don't even know how I feel about The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford. This book jumps to so many different time periods (we jump all the way to something like year 2040) and all revolving around ancestor trauma and epigenetics (which I have no knowledge of). It did flow somewhat well but to keep track of everyone and everything, made for difficult reading in my opinion. There are many trigger warnings in this book so buyer beware. And it seems as if I am in the majority of not thinking it was super great. Almost a DNF for me but I pushed through.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my review.

This book is incredibly lovely. I enjoyed every moment of this. It's well written. The characters are compelling. And the story is wonderful.

This book takes a look at the idea of the epigenetic footprint of ancestral trauma. The author imagines the lives of the descendants of the first Chinese woman to set foot in the US. He also does a great job of imagining a future Seattle, with global warming and climate change intruding on the environment.

I highly recommend this one. I also feel compelled to go back and read earlier books by this author. I may be a little late to the party on this one.