Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted eARC of this title.

What a MARVELOUS book! I was hooked from beginning to end. It jumped around from different time periods and perspectives, but I found it easy to follow along with each new character. They each had such beautiful and tragic stories that circled back to the main character. I loved that it had historical fiction, a little sci fi, some romance, poetry, and so much more. I HIGHLY recommend this to my followers! I cannot wait to read more from this author.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is a complex book the covers seven generations of Chinese women. Afong is a young girl in 1842 China who is to become the third wife of an older man. He dies before the wedding but her father has already spent the money he was promised for her so the wedding is to go on even though he is dead. One of his other wives comes up with a plan to have her sent to America where he becomes the first known Chinese woman in the new world.

The book bounces back in forth between Afong's descendants, in no particular order, starting each chapter with that woman's name and year. We see the discrimination of these women based on the their sex and often nationality.

Dorothy lives in 2045, she is very depressed and has a hard time with life. She has seen many therapists but she finally starts feeling better when she is introduced to epigenetics, the study of trauma that is passed down through our DNA to future generations. Dorothy submits to futuristic experimental treatments that have her seeing or almost becoming her ancestors.

I had never heard of epigenetics, and even after reading the whole book and the Author's Notes, I can't say that I truly understand to or believe in it. We all have trauma at some point in our life and to think that that could be more important to who we are than the experiences our ancestors had, it's not for me. Even in the book, Dorothy lost her mother as a young teenager, I think that and her living in various homes and being homeless at times was a bigger part of her depression than what her great-grandmother went through.

That being said, Jamie Ford has beautiful writing and he obviously did a tremendous amount of research. I appreciated the Author's Notes more than the book, sorry! In them we learned that Afong Moy was a real person as was a number of the events that occurred during the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the book.

Mr. Ford uses magical realism to present us with multiple characters in this enchanting tale.
Traveling through time and back, we meet many past generations of women in Dorothy's family.
It is also a story of motherly love, and what one does to protect the young.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Atria Books, for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. This book was fascinating. I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I read it twice, back-to-back, because I felt I had missed certain elements of the story the first time around. I was not wrong. My second reading of the book yielded different feelings and take-aways. The story is multi-generational and the reader is taken back and forth between various time periods. Each chapter brings different elements of the story to bear, and while the flavors and backdrops for the story vary, the familial connections along with the various traumas that occur throughout the book provide a thread of consistency that tie everything together. The concept of epigenetics or genetic memory is truly thought provoking and several times I stopped reading to digest what was happening and reflect on what it might mean to carry on experiences that previous generations had experienced and what the ethical implications are that surround the study of epigenetics. While reading the book for the second time I encouraged two friends to read along with me so we could discuss what we thought of the book. All of us found the book engaging and enjoyed the character development and storylines. The only criticism I have is minor - and that is the future state was not very creatively imagined. That we might all still be looking at our personal devices or phones 30 or 40 years from now seems unlikely and more of a current experience rather than what's to come. Irrespective of this critique as it is minor, I would recommend this book as one that is an enjoyable read and that will stay with you.

3.5 stars

A beautiful but tragic story of the interwoven lives of one matrilineal line, spanning continents & centuries. It has a really cool premise, & despite the sad stories it had a positive ending.

[What I liked:]

•The writing is beautiful and vivid without being cloying or verbose. I enjoyed the many settings, across time and place.

•I really enjoyed the cast of characters! Afong & each of her daughters felt unique & distinct, while still being clearly connected & sharing characteristics. It took a lot of thought of care to create them like this.

•The ending is really sweet & hopeful without feeling forced or unrealistic. I’m so glad that Dorothy found a happy life in the end.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Whew, there is a lot of tragedy & trauma in this book! Which is kind of the point of the premise. And the book does have a happy ending. But just be aware of all the trigger warnings.

•I didn’t really understand the trip Dorothy takes near the end when she overdosed on the pills the doctor gives her—does she *actually* rewrite history? Or is it just her imagination? This is kind of an important point, so I wish it was clarified.

CW: major character death, child abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia, domestic violence, sexual violence, mental illness, suicide, infidelity, bullying

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Martha Graham called it Blood Memory...The ability that we all have as human beings to instinctually know our relatives from the past, from way in the past. This is a beautifully written book and I could not put it down. It was intriguing, fascinating, eloquent and totally believable! Jamie Ford is an incredible writer, succinct and so clear in her descriptions of time, place and energy. I LOVED THIS BOOK, and it is absolutely one of my top ten for 2022. Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the arc.

BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT!

I'll get this out of the way: Hands down, honest to everything, this was one of the best reads of 2022!

Now to the meat. Ford's pseudo speculative fiction of the power of genetics in passing down trauma and the impact that can have for descedants of persons who survive truly traumatic events is fascinating. Told across multiple timelines, each piece revealed at just the right time, this was like watching an impossible puzzle being solved while you watched. We follow the Moy descendants as they battle the confusion of trauma responses to traumas they have never had (along with those they have) largely through the lens of the latest Moy in the near future as she tries cutting edge science in a last-ditch effort to salvage her sanity, marriage, and motherhood. My heart broke for every character and I will mourn my loss now that I cannot meet them each for the first time again. If you want a true story of healing through listening and learning from those who came before, this is exactly what you need.

**Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC**

One of the most transporting novels I’ve ever read. Fantasy mixed with historical fiction that makes you explore memories

Thanks to Atria for the advanced copy of this book.

This was one of my more anticipated reads of the year, as I really enjoy a good multi-generational story like this. However, I definitely found myself gravitating toward some of the storylines versus others, which made it a bit hard to pick back up at times, so it took me awhile to finish this one. Overall, the writing was very good and I appreciated the story and narrative on the effects of trauma through the generations and how easy it is for this cycle to continue, even into the present day.

This was an unique book that I enjoyed even though I did get confused at times. It dealt with past generations of women in Dorothy’s family and her experimental treatment in dealing with trauma. I did find it confusing at times, especially the epigenetics , but still interesting. Ford’s Acknowledgments at the end of the novel helped explain some things. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC!

I enjoyed discovering how the stories and timelines came together. However, I’m rating this lower because I’m still so confused even after finishing the book. I was really excited about the idea of epigenetics and the sci-fi intersection to this historical fiction novel, but it just left me wanting. First, the non chronological nature of the storytelling was confusing throughout. But mainly I think it was confusing because not all storylines got equal time on the page. So when the story would finally shift back to one person, you had already forgotten who that person was because it had been half the book since you’d last heard from them. Second, the world building wasn’t as well established so I had a hard time distinguishing between the time periods and also understanding the world of the 2045 timeline. Third, I’m still so confused about what the experimental treatments were supposed to do and what they actually did. The science wasn’t really explained, so the entire last fourth of the book was just so confusing and I have no idea what happened. I gave it a ton of leeway at first, but I expected it to make more sense in the end.

I received an advanced copy of this ebook from the publisher for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. This book is fast paced and told from two different points of view. It sucks you in from the first page. This book doesn't feel like a historical fiction. I absolutely enjoyed this authors writing style and plan to read more books by this author in the near future. I would definitely recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone. This book is in stores for $28.00 (USD).

The premise really drew me in, but I found the various POVs fragmented and they weren’t cohesive. In fact, for a multigenerational story about trauma, I was disappointed in how jarring the transitions and characters were between present, past, and future.

This was a very good Jamie Ford book about family trauma and how that trauma might be passed down by generations. I did find that the book had me scratching my head a few times trying to keep up or just plain make sense of what time period we are in.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this advanced readers copy. This book released on August 2, 2022.

4.5 stars
This book had a very intriguing premise and I found it to be a unique story. The writing was absolutely beautiful!

I will say that the jumping around in time and POV did get confusing. I had to write on a sticky note a brief description of each woman so I could keep track of who was who as I read. It is also important to realize that the names and dates on a page at the beginning of the book are NOT a family tree exactly, but more of a timeline to the story. It does not read as “woman one is mother to woman two who is mother to woman three…” If you view it that way you will be confused because that is not the case.

I loved learning about all the history that this novel is seeped in. This story is heartbreaking at times. It covers various sensitive topics. But it truly is an amazing story that was well told. I read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and really liked it, but I found the writing for this book to be so much more.

I highly recommend this book, just make a couple character notes to help you along.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

Fascinating story of seven generations of women experiencing generational trauma from those who came before them. Had no idea what epigenetics was before starting this. Its how environment/behavior can affect how your genes work. The story jumps all over the place and it takes a bit to follow it but this whole book tells the story of these women and they each have such different experiences and encounter different kinds of pain and emotional trauma that by time we get into the future with Dorothy she's pretty messed up. Dorothy is starting to see the same patterns in her daughter and wants to confront the pain so her daughter doesn't have to go through what she is dealing with. It's really hard to explain this book. Really enjoyed it though.

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford was such an interesting book. I listened to it on audio and I think I might have liked it more if I read it. Trying to keep track of the 7 different women took me a while to keep straight. The idea of transgenerational trauma was really fascinating. I liked reading about the historical experiences between the women who were all descents of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to come to the US. This book was definitely unique.

What an original concept! The Many Daughters of Afong Moy explores the impact of inherited trauma in a thought-provoking and fascinating story of many generations of a Chinese American family.

Multi-generational story told in three acts, like a play. Listened to the audiobook and read the print simultaneously. The narration was stellar.

This is a love-story, sci-fi, magical realism, and historical fiction all wrapped up.

Based on the true life character of Afong Moy who was the first known female Chinese immigrant to America. She was owned by the Carne brothers and they traveled around the country charging admission for folks to view this "oddity" with the tiny bound feet.

Moy's life was unpleasant, filled with trauma including an unexpected pregnancy. The book is a fictionalized imagining of her female descendants and the role of inherited trauma.

I was given an advance copy of this title by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has wondered how they fit in and where they truly came from. This was a mesmerizing read of women and courage.